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Round Five in South Asia?!

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  • Round Five in South Asia?!

    With the Pakistanis talking tough and going back on their promise to rein in terror; is time for Operation Kartikeya?

    http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_f...ntent_id=74693

    As India and Pakistan dabble with the latest set of peace initiatives, we have a novel that reminds us that if things go wrong now—as they did when Pakistani militants attacked Indian Parliament in 2001 and India mobilised its troops—New Delhi might be tempted to go for air strikes.

    Airavat Singh’s Op-Kartikeya: Round Five in South Asia is based on a scenario in which, this time, New Delhi might just order a series of surgical air strikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) simultaneously across Pakistan, by Mirage 2000 fighters from air bases in Gwalior and elsewhere.

    As intelligence intercepts reveal that a new set of missiles and weapon systems that Pakistan has received from China, via the Karakoram highway that runs from north of Kashmir, could strengthen the resolve amongst the hardliners in Islamabad to step up their campaign of terror across India, the government in Delhi sanctions “Operation Kartikeya” — named after the god of war — and orders the men and machines of the IAF to gear up and meet the challenge.

    Set in 2005 — two decades after Ravi Rikhiye’s controversial The Fourth Round — this facto-fiction account is different from other such works about India-Pakistan wars. Mr Singh’s book is more about air battles than land battles, because in today’s electronic era, conventional wars are of limited value, whereas, as the author states, “In the air force, time is measured in hours and minutes. The tactical movements that two opposing armies or navies engage in usually extend into days if not weeks. But when the opposing birds are set in motion the conflict is decisively altered in favour of one or the other.” The ‘birds’ are India’s nuclear capable Mirage 2000 fighters.

    Written with the expertise of an insider, but by one who has interestingly never flown a fighter, the book is surprisingly accurate about the details that so many want to know, but never quite get to know. And about how the services methodically deliberate over the consequences of a conflict at the bomb-proof integrated service head quarters in Delhi; or for that matter the ‘G’ forces that a pilot faces as he pulls the joystick of the Mirage 2000 and becomes air-borne in no time.

    Here is a sample: “Squadron Leader Karan Dev Singh eased back the throttle of this Mirage 2000 fighter jet and rolled the joystick to the left and pulled. When the jet turned, he instinctively tensed the muscled of his lower body, even as the G-suit inflated to help him fight the gravitational force of the landmass 10 kilometres below. The Mirage 2000 could handle up to 9Gs of that force, but at that level the pilot would experience ‘tunnel vision’ as the blood rushed away from his head causing him to eventually black out ... but just then Karan decided it was time for some fun, he told himself and rolled the jet right and on to it back, allowing it to drop like a dead weight even as he gripped the stick and held that position. This manoeuvre was meant to avoid negative G-forces ... then blood rushes to the pilot’s head and induces a feeling of weightlessness.”

    OP-KARTIKEYA: Round Five in South Asia
    Airavat Singh; iUniverse (USA);
    $14.95 (paperback)


    This is a book that will thrill military buffs and arm-chair strategists alike. A facto-fiction, that is thoroughly researched but still a most readable account of how the next military confrontation between India and Pakistan could shape up. But for the hypothetical outcome, get a hold of a copy and read it for yourself.

    Maroof Raza is a series editor of the Military Affairs series of Har Anand Publications
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  • #2
    http://www.airavat.com/op_kartikeya.htm

    The author's website found on google.

    At the human level Op Kartikeya is the story of an IAF squadron leader. Karan Dev Singh is a fighter pilot at the Maharajpur Air Base in Gwalior, which is home to two squadrons of the Mirage 2000 multi-role aircraft. All the action in the book is seen through his eyes. Be it the relentless and tough air maneuvers in preparation for war, midnight strikes on Pakistani air bases, or going head-to-head against Chinese fighters. As an independent air wing commander in the latter half of the book, Karan's skills at man-management and leadership are put to the test. Without getting over-technical, an attempt is made to portray the inner dynamics of a military unit and the technological details of the machines of war.

    At the macro or strategic level Operation Kartikeya is the unleashing of Indian air power on an unreasonable (but unsuspecting) enemy. The planning and execution is done by the newly-created Defence Staff Headquarters (DSHQ) with an air chief marshall as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). This book was conceived several years before the Kargil conflict but was only written in 2001-02. The original story had to be severely altered following America's Op Enduring Freedom against Afghanistan and India's Op Parakram against Pakistan. The book is set in the year 2005 when a new government has been sworn into office after making fresh political alliances in key states (it has no bearing on either the current UPA government or the previous NDA government). In Op Kartikeya the elections were held on schedule.

    Contrary to convention, ministerial designations and military ranks have been capitalized throughout the book. And the ministers are known only through their designations...no attempt is made to explore their personal lives or characters. The focus stays on the military men.

    With regard to the title, Kartikeya is the name of a Hindu deity, a warlike youth. How this name is adopted to designate a military operation is described at length in the book. In the book he is not regarded in religious terms but as a mythological figure. For those who argue that he (and other Indian deities) are still worshipped today...well frankly we Indians can't help it if our civilization has survived 50-odd centuries of worldwide turmoil. Some of the military men depicted in this book may worship Kartikeya in their homes, but at work they will regard the name of their operation in purely the mythological qualities it portrays.

    Op Kartikeya is fiction and should not be judged like a research paper or scholarly dissertation. In my writing I have followed the rule that good fiction should entertain while pushing the boundaries of conventional thinking. The other elements of the book are examined in detail separately in the following order
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    • #3
      Naaah its not going to happen.

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      • #4
        It's good to know Indian literature has its Tom Clancy. The thing is, nukes make this scenario very very unlikely. Unless another attack similar to that on the Parliament building happens, this piece of fiction shall remain a piece of fiction.
        Am out of town for a while and then have tons of work coming up at school. Will be back once that's all done.

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        • #5
          You know even if Musharraf goes to India beats the crap out of Singh and then shoots him or the other way around.... both the countries won't goto war.

          And you said it, its all about MAD.

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          • #6
            Singh may look old, but he's still a Sikh.
            A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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