Mirage 2000
"But you're the only pilot left here."
"We need to borrow a Pakistani pilot to ferry one aircraft. Most of No. 26 Squadron's pilots have trained on the J-10A. Get me their wing commander; we need to be airborne as soon as possible."
"That's going to be difficult. Every senior officer on the base has gone down to the underground command post. I can't find anyone. Right now even getting hold of a power cart is a struggle. Their only job today is evacuation; all the support vehicles are outside." Xiang Xiaohui said. Song Ning could only fret.
"We can start the engines using the aircraft's own APU without a power cart. I'll sign off on it. If we can't find anyone, leave the missiles on; there's no time to remove them. But we have to leave today."
"Chief, there's always him." Xiang jerked his chin toward the far end of the shelter. Song Ning turned. Sami was standing at a distance outside the entrance, inspecting a duty JF-17 whose tyre had been punctured by shrapnel.
"No. He's a madman. I can't take the risk…"
"Song, he's the highest-ranking officer on this base you'll actually find right now. The old man can get the tower to give us priority takeoff. He can get you a compressed-air cart. Think it over."
Song Ning had barely dismissed the idea when the siren screamed again. He grabbed the deafened Zhou Guoqing off his ladder and ran for the entrance. They had barely cleared the blast door when an explosion sounded far to the east, several kilometres away. Probably part of a second wave, though it was unclear what that missile had been aimed at.
This time Song Ning did not hesitate. He ran straight to the group captain. Sami seemed entirely unsurprised that the Chinese officer had come to him. They exchanged a few murmured words, shook hands, and the deal appeared to be done in ten seconds.
Twenty minutes later, Group Captain Sami settled into the cockpit of aircraft 01, four missiles still hanging under its wings. He tuned the radio to No. 33 Wing's frequency and began hand-starting the APU.
"Control, this is Black Spider 101. Emergency mission. I need to help our Chinese friends ferry two J-10 aircraft. Requesting priority takeoff."
The tower was silent for a moment; someone had plainly gone to check. Sami watched the engine spool up at idle. He released the brakes and began to taxi. He knew takeoff would not be a problem. The wing commander had never stood in his way.
"Group Captain, you are cleared to follow aircraft 1125."
"Copy." Sami watched a J-7P ahead of him accelerate down the runway. He was next.
"Squadron Leader, runway is clear. You may launch at your discretion."
"Copy."
Sami located the compass on the instrument panel. The last time he had flown the A-model, the compass had been in a different position.
"Zero-two, I'll hold at five hundred metres to the west and wait for you to join up."
"Zero-two, copy." Song Ning in the second aircraft.
"I notice the instruments have changed a bit."
"They have. But I don't have time to teach you."
"The engine sounds good. Where's the fuel distribution switch?"
"Below the right HDD."
Sami toggled his radio to the tower frequency.
"Control, any updated threat information?"
He was already lining up on the runway, engines winding up. He could take off at any moment.
"Squadron Leader, bad news. Indian No. 1 Squadron fighters launched from Gwalior twenty-five minutes ago. Based on their heading, they may appear from the south."
"Mirage 2000s?"1
"Unclear. The AWACS has just left the southern sector to support Northern Command."
"Damn. Of all times to leave."
The group captain hastily punched a route into the HDD, released the brakes, and the aircraft surged forward. The power was noticeably better than the Thunder. Once 01 was airborne, Song Ning taxied 02 to the threshold. His mind was in turmoil. He was not sure he had made the right decision. The ground personnel would follow later on a Y-8 transport to Peshawar. Would anything else go wrong? Impossible to say.
"Zero-one, I have you visual. Joining on you."
"Hold altitude. Don't worry. Half an hour's flying, that's all."
"Will Peshawar be just as chaotic? Hard to land?"
"It will. But at least the bombs haven't reached them yet."
"Group Captain, why are you turning south? Peshawar is west."
"Major, I just remembered: there's an independent air-defence unit at Nowshera2 on combat alert. They may not be able to identify these aircraft. If they fire, we're in trouble."
"But the south is where the fighting is."
"Your choice. Fly straight through a missile battery's engagement zone, or detour south around it?"
Song Ning glanced at his RWR. Multiple radars from various directions were painting the aircraft. The western emissions were plainly from a SAM site. In wartime, a SAM commander might well fire on anything that failed to respond to an IFF challenge. Sami's concern was valid.
"Fine. Your call. But under no circumstances are you to engage Indian fighters. Understood?"
"I'll steer clear of the fighting."
The group captain had not precisely answered Song Ning's question. He swung south in a wide arc.
"Range?"
"One hundred and twenty-nine kilometres."
The group captain hesitated for a moment, then switched on the phased-array radar. Almost immediately, three fast-moving contacts appeared on the vertical display, crossing his front at high speed. They were heading for some target deep inside Pakistan. The contacts made no response to his radar sweep; they were apparently too busy to worry about a distant scan from their two o'clock. Sami knew that if neither side changed course, they would enter each other's medium-range missile envelopes within five minutes. He estimated that these No. 1 Squadron Mirage 2000-5s,3 on a deep-penetration bombing mission, were probably carrying bombs and short-range missiles only. Every fighting instinct in his body flared to life.
"Major, switch on your radar. We've run into some trouble."
1. No. 1 Squadron "Tigers": See C19N10. The IAF's oldest and most prestigious squadron, operating Mirage 2000H fighters from Gwalior. Their launch 25 minutes prior puts them roughly 400 km from Kamra, consistent with a deep-strike mission into Pakistan's heartland. ↩
2. Nowshera (瑙谢拉): A city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near Peshawar. The independent air-defence unit stationed there, on combat alert during the Indian offensive, would fire on any aircraft that failed to identify itself. Since the J-10Bs still carry PLA markings and no Pakistani IFF transponder, flying through their engagement zone would be suicidal. ↩
3. Mirage 2000-5 (幻影2000-5): An upgraded variant of the Dassault Mirage 2000 with the RDY radar and MICA missile capability. The novel uses "Mirage 2000-5" though the IAF operates the Mirage 2000H/TH variant, upgraded to a standard sometimes informally compared to the 2000-5. The chapter's title names the aircraft; Sami's encounter with the Tigers' Mirages closes the chapter on a cliffhanger. ↩