“Yes sir,” Ngawang adjusted the night-vision optics attachment to his helmet before lowering it in front of his eyes. The rest of the team had done the same. Gephel was the last one to do it as he gave a final look to the flashing lights silhouetting the southern peaks behind them. Thirty seconds later he picked up his AK-47 rifle and moved out as Ngawang began leading the group across the cold, dark plains.
One of the components missing during the 1959 rebellion in Tibet was the extensive use of Chinese airpower. While there were transport aircraft in use at the time and while some bombing missions were done, it did not constitute a determined use of airpower offensively. Of course, at the time, the Chinese airpower was very restricted to begin with. This time around, however, the PLAAF was out in force in support of the PLA in Tibet. J-10s based at Shigatse and Lhasa were already assisting the local PLA forces with precision airstrikes against rebel held positions, when required. To the west, Kashgar and Hotien airbases were busy with J-10s and J-8IIs in this role and in northern Tibet, Golmud, Urumqi and Korla provided the required offensive air power to local PLA commanders.
Such heavy use of air-power was not going unnoticed by Indian Air Force commanders. The Chinese were patrolling aggressively in all sectors. The problem from their end was that it was proving extremely difficult to locate small groups of rebels moving around within the hills. And despite using unmanned drones to help in the task, many flights of strike aircraft simply could not locate their targets once they arrived on scene. When these locations were close to the Indian border, the situation became more complicated. In several cases the Chinese had dropped bombs against fleeing refugees and rebels heading south towards the Indian border. In two instances, overzealous Chinese pilots had dropped bombs
This could not be allowed. Once New-Delhi had given up the diplomatic appeals, the IAF had deployed in force along the border with deterrence patrols of their own. In the east, the IAF was flying Su-30s from Tezpur and Su-30s and Mig-21 Bisons from Chabua on deterrence patrols and Defensive-Counter-Air or DCA missions. In the central areas, Su-30s from Bareilly were keeping tabs along the Sikkim and Nepal sectors. To the west, Mig-29s and Mirage-2000s from the Western Air Command were doing patrols from Leh, Srinagar and other airbases in Punjab to ensure aerial presence over Ladakh. The No. 50 AWACS Squadron had deployed detachments to different airbases with its compliment of A-50 Phalcon AWACS aircraft and the handful of newly inducted CABS AEW&C aircraft. One Phalcon was deployed for the Ladakh sector and deployed from Agra airbase. The other two headed east to Kalaikunda for providing airborne coverage in the northeastern states. The CABS aircraft were used to compliment these larger aircraft and were filling in the gaps left out by the Aerostat tethered radar systems deployed there.
To counter the Indian fighter presence, the Chinese had responded by deploying forward elements of the PLAAF 26TH Air Division and its subordinate 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment along with its compliment of KJ-2000 and KJ-200 AWACS aircraft. The 26TH Air Division and the 76TH Regiment commanders and their staff had deployed to Korla while detachment of KJ-2000s were deployed further south with an aircraft each at Lhasa, Hotien and some reserve aircraft at Korla. The turboprop powered KJ-200s were lesser capable than their bigger brothers, the KJ-2000s, and were deployed further to the east near Chengdu for filler missions.
The Chinese fighter compliment had been brought up to very respectable strengths by the forward deployment of three Fighter Divisions and one more in strategic reserve. The 6TH Fighter Division deployed to Lanzhou airbase with their J-11s to protect the precious assets of the 26TH Air Division. The 33RD Fighter Division deployed around Lhasa, Shigatse and Golmud airbases and the 44TH Fighter Division deployed Regiments to Urumqi, Hotien and Kashgar airbases. The 19TH Fighter Division was the theater reserve with its J-11 Regiments.
