Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 48 Prime Minister's Office

Minister Singh was preparing for a meeting with the wartime prime minister at the defense office in New Delhi when the captain flew wearily back to the Adampur base.He has two messages for the prime minister, one good and one bad.

The bad news is that an hour ago, Rosoboronexport suddenly put forward a request to suspend the supply of weapons accessories on the grounds of domestic political pressure. I believe the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must have presented this matter to the Prime Minister with embellishments. Now Singh needs Reversing this passive situation requires the help of the Prime Minister, because Prime Minister Kahan has a good personal relationship with the Russian President.He knew that the Duma of the Russian Federation would never stop arms exports because Indian planes accidentally bombed civilian areas with Russian bombs.

In addition, Singh also has good news. In the past two days of air strikes, his air force has shot down at least 2 Pakistani fighter jets. It can be confirmed that 8 of them are the F2C/D of the Pakistani Falcon Squadron that was shot down in the air. The myth of American technology that Pakistan has bragged about is now being ruthlessly punctured.This is a major victory. Singh believes that not only Prime Minister Kahan will be inspired by it, but also the people of India. Unlike previous cabinet ministers, Singh has always been well aware of the power of public opinion, so his Ministry of Defense not only has There is an official spokesperson who pretends to be a facade, and there is also a secretive public affairs office, headed by his most trusted official Lujad Nahan, who specializes in dealing with newspapers and TV stations.At present, the war has just begun, and the people of the whole country are excited. He needs to keep relying on the good news from the front to fuel the fire.

Singh was thinking about the publicity plan for the state-run TV station when Lujad Nahan, the head of the office, came in and told him.The telephone conversation agreed between the Prime Minister and the President of the United States has ended, and now I am free to receive him.Singh immediately left the Ministry of Defense on Dalhousie Street with his belongings and headed for the prime minister's office in central New Delhi.After the affairs official notified, Singh was immediately allowed to enter the office. When he entered the prime minister's office, he found that Kahan was sitting alone in a daze, looking depressed and very tired. It was obvious that he had encountered some obstacles in the United States.

"Your Excellency, the Minister of Defense is here." A secretary walked over and brought Kahan back from his contemplation to reality.

"Okay, my old friend, please sit down." Kahan stood up and asked Singh to sit down. "Let's talk about our losses in the past two days." He then said with his hands spread out, as if he was more concerned about his losses. care about some.

"Your Excellency, our losses are very, very limited. Pakistan is powerless to fight back. They are still attacking military installations with suicide bombers. And these attacks are futile except to anger our people."

"Well, I know about these situations. They always rely on these three bad methods. By the way, Charman told me in the morning that the information he has shows that the mainstream opinions in China are seriously divided. It seems that there are people who sympathize with us. The molecular class has a disdain for traditional geopolitics, and they are more inclined to see us as victims of terrorism."

"This is what I think. You'd better not believe such information. The Chinese seem to be hesitant on the surface, but this may be a trick, just like in 62. I think that Nehru didn't know what to do at the last moment. They believed that the other party would not take military action. In fact, in the first half of 1962, when Mao Zedong and Nehru kept communicating and discussing colonial history, the government at that time thought that the Chinese were wordy and naive, while In fact, they are secretly preparing for battle."

"Have you studied their strategy?"

"Yes, I was only 1962 years old in 4 and my family ran from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai like the end of the world, so I have been studying this country since I was young. Chinese policymakers are not opportunists, although they are waiting They have an opportunity. They are doing it step by step, as Charman said, as long as we smash the massive Pakistani resistance and re-strengthen the border defenses in the northeast by October, then nothing will happen."

"Are you sure it's that simple?"

"Indeed, everything depends on the progress of the ground war."

"Then let it go. I think you should know that the international situation our country is facing now is more difficult than in 1998. I remember that year was also the Democratic Party in power in the United States. I believe that as long as we persist, when the Republican Party comes to power, we will restore the same India’s traditional diplomatic relations. Everything will be fine.” The Prime Minister waved his hand and said, Kahan regards Singh as a confidant, so he directly read out his heart, and he seemed to put all the premise of political planning on other countries’ general elections superior.

Singh did not want to further develop the relationship between the United States and India. He is an interesting person and has already guessed that the US President put a lot of pressure on the Prime Minister on the phone just now, so that Kahan suddenly thought of the international situation after the 98 nuclear test. sanctions.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, Russia has hinted that it will stop the MiG-29UPG plan, and there is also the problem of weapon accessories. The cargo ship parked in St. Petersburg has been loaded, but it has not received a sailing permit. At present, it is only a written notification from Rosoboronexport, but Mentioned yesterday's accidental bombing incident."

"Don't worry too much, it's just a common blackmail, I know them too well. I'll call Petrov." Kahan sneered, everything was as he expected, but it came a little faster , "Actually, I really appreciate the attitude of the Russians. If all countries only value their interests like them, the world will become much more orderly."

"there's one more thing,"

"You say it."

"It's the question about the selection of the Chief of Staff of the Army that I mentioned to you..."

"Lieutenant General Passard is playing tricks again?"

"Yes, I read the offensive plan he submitted today, and it's still too conservative. He just took out the 1986 plan, Tutu, a mediocre first-line push plan, and the offense has no focus. If this plan is implemented, the army will soon lose its offensive speed in the hot desert area. We will be caught in a tug of war."

"What good candidate do you have?" Kahan asked casually.In fact, he is very clear that the most suitable candidate in Singer's mind must be himself. Although he was only the commander when he retired, he has been criticizing the high-ranking generals in front of him for not being professional enough since he took office.

"I have a lot of candidates, some young enterprising lieutenant generals. Some officers who understand modern warfare."

"Modern warfare? I want to hear your physiognomy."

"Pakistan has a lot of armored divisions and we have always grouped our armored units with our infantry so that they are better suited to fight in Punjab. If we can completely eliminate the interference of the Pakistan Air Force, the focus of the second phase of air strikes is to hit these armored units Division. Then, I need a large number of drones to enter the opponent's airspace for reconnaissance."

"But what does that have to do with the replacement of Pasade?"

"He deployed most of the drone squadrons to the northeast border area to guard against China, and assigned the original independent drone squadrons to several mountain divisions without authorization. He now tightly controls these divisions. I almost There is no way to mobilize the equipment," Singh said.He and the Prime Minister did not know each other, so his words were very explicit. Of course, Kahan could understand that the only thing Singer wanted was to bypass the obstructive Chief of Army Staff, or put an obedient person in this position.

(End of this chapter)