Exercises Modernization

A Brigade of the Northern Theater Command Air Force Presents a New Landscape in Armed Search-and-Rescue Training

北部战区空军某旅武装搜救训练呈现新景观

PLA Daily (解放军报) 13 June 2026

Summary

A Northern Theater Command Air Force helicopter brigade conducted armed search-and-rescue exercises at Bohai Bay involving live-rocket attacks by armed-escort helicopters and hoist recovery of a simulated downed pilot, with tower commander Wang Bo directing operations that included a joint exercise integrating Army and Navy UAVs, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters in a multi-domain rescue chain. The article documents a self-identified institutional problem: the brigade's own assessment found that crews had internalized a 'supporting role' identity that depressed training motivation and produced rehearsed, low-threat scenarios rather than contested-environment drills. The brigade's response—formalizing 'armed clearance of the search-and-rescue area' as the primary training subject and building cross-branch joint exercises around it—extends a visible PLA-wide pattern of using political work and Party committee intervention to correct doctrinal drift at the unit level before it becomes a readiness liability.

Translation

A Reporter Observes the New Landscape of Armed Search-and-Rescue at a Brigade of the Northern Theater Command Air Force—

Rescuing Pilots: First Train to "Pull Teeth from the Tiger's Mouth" (虎口拔牙)

■ PLA Daily Reporters Zhang Tiannan, Wang Zhenjiang, Gao Liang

[Photo caption: Helicopter search-and-rescue training (archival photo). Photo by Yang Pan.]

Summer. The shore of Bohai Bay. The sun blazes overhead. At the training ground of a brigade of the Northern Theater Command Air Force, reporters witnessed an armed search-and-rescue exercise.

"A pilot has ejected and is awaiting rescue in a certain sea area!" The emergency situation arrived suddenly, and officers and soldiers of a battalion of the brigade immediately rushed to their combat positions. On the airfield runway, salt-laden sea wind mixed with the roar of engines poured into the reporters' ears. Several helicopters stood in formation, ready for takeoff.

"Take off!" On the order of tower commander Wang Bo, the warbirds rose swiftly into the sky and flew toward the horizon where sea meets sky, live ammunition mounted beneath their fuselages glinting silver.

After completing a covert penetration, the armed-escort helicopter formation arrived first over the target sea area. Pilots gripped their control sticks and continuously adjusted flight attitude; crew members, drawing on information provided by the tower and factoring in sea-surface weather conditions, immediately conducted low-altitude reconnaissance, rapidly searched for "enemy" threat targets, and established the optimal attack heading.

The navigator continuously reported navigation parameters, and the aircraft commander precisely locked onto the target based on the guidance. On the order of the airborne commander, several helicopters in succession launched diving attacks; rockets screamed out one after another, skimming the sea at low altitude and striking "enemy" threat targets with precision—flames erupted and smoke billowed at the target sites.

The rescue helicopter then moved forward, executing a nimble sideward flight to cut into the target airspace. Airborne rescue personnel used winches, steel cables, and other equipment to conduct a hoist rescue, successfully recovering the "downed pilot" and completing the mission.

"On the battlefield, the enemy will not let you simply walk away with the rescued person. In many cases, the search-and-rescue operation itself is a fight to 'snatch people' under a hail of bullets. Only by training hard in armed search-and-rescue in peacetime can we open a reliable 'lifeline' (生命通道) in wartime." As the smoke gradually cleared, Wang Bo—sweat beading on his forehead—explained to reporters that armed clearance of the search-and-rescue area (武装开辟搜救场) is the most difficult and important subject in their training. "Battlefield search-and-rescue is like 'snatching life from the tiger's mouth'—this requires us not only to know how to 'rescue' but also to be able to 'fight.' You have to have the ability to pull out the 'tiger's teeth' first!"

"Why train to 'pull teeth from the tiger's mouth'?" A brigade leader observing the training picked up the thread: "In wartime, the target awaiting rescue may well be inside an 'enemy' blockade zone, requiring fire to clear the obstacles first."

"In the past, helicopter search-and-rescue training was conducted mainly around locating targets and was often carried out under known conditions—like practicing moves inside a glass dome—lacking the construction of a realistic battlefield environment and unable to withstand the test of actual combat." His tone grew somber as he continued: in earlier research they had found that some officers and soldiers harbored the mistaken notion that "rescue forces have limited utility in the operational chain," viewing themselves as a support element, a reserve force, a "supporting role on the battlefield," which led to low enthusiasm for training and insufficient drive for innovation.

"The root cause is a deviation in the actual-combat orientation—training was not organized and conducted starting from actual-combat requirements." This leader said with firm conviction that combat readiness training must discard short-sighted thinking: it must both achieve immediate training results and, taking a long-term view, forge real combat-hardened skills, truly developing the solid capability to "provide aid in peacetime and conduct rescues in wartime."

It is precisely this clear-eyed awareness that has driven the brigade onto a path of breaking through toward a combat-oriented transformation—

The brigade Party committee firmly established a combat-oriented (向战为战) guiding principle, leading officers and soldiers to direct their efforts toward combat, consolidate strengths and remedy weaknesses, and strengthen armed search-and-rescue training against the backdrop of front-line rescue. They trained both rescue skills and genuine fighting and resistance. At the same time, Party committee members went deep into the front lines, leading officers and soldiers to transform their thinking through discussion, analysis, planning, and research on warfare, breaking down erroneous notions such as "supporting role on the battlefield"… A series of practical measures led officers and soldiers to a profound recognition: on the battlefield there are no bystanders; in combat there is no distinction between lead and supporting roles; wherever the search-and-rescue force reaches, the boundary of combat expands.

During the interview, a battalion officer told reporters about a joint search-and-rescue exercise they had organized not long ago with neighboring Army and Navy units.

That day, faced with the emergency situation of "a pilot ejecting in an 'enemy' fire danger zone," the neighboring units first dispatched unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct forward reconnaissance, precisely identifying "enemy" threat targets and transmitting the information back; a certain type of fixed-wing aircraft, after rapidly locking onto the target's bearing using that information, relayed the situational information in real time to the helicopter formation. The formation then struck decisively, delivering fire against the "enemy."

After the "enemy" threat targets were eliminated, the helicopter formation rapidly switched mission modes: signal search, precise positioning, exit-and-hoist rescue… a series of actions flowed seamlessly, successfully recovering the "pilot," and a "lifeline" from the front line to the rear was opened.

This joint search-and-rescue model of multi-type aircraft complementing one another is a microcosm of the brigade's ongoing push to transform its training. As combat-realistic training advances in depth, the brigade's armed search-and-rescue capability is accelerating its expansion toward integrated systems operations (体系作战): they are actively conducting "armed aircraft + rescue aircraft" formation search-and-rescue training, exploring coordinated training models of multi-aircraft complementarity such as "fixed-wing aircraft forward search and positioning + helicopter follow-on precision rescue"; they routinely conduct cross-branch joint training, from basic flight training and information communications to complex offensive-defensive confrontation, comprehensively improving integrated systems coordination capability through combat-realistic training.

By the time the interview ended it was nearly dusk, and one by one the warbirds that had completed the day's training returned and landed smoothly.

The reporter looked up: on the outer wall of the tower, the combat slogan "War is right before our eyes" (战争就在眼前) gleamed in the glow of the setting sun.

Original Chinese

记者在北部战区空军某旅观察武装搜救新景观—— 抢救飞行员：先练“虎口拔牙” ■解放军报记者张天南王振江高亮直升机搜救训练（资料照片）。杨盼摄夏日，渤海湾畔，烈日当空。在北部战区空军某旅训练场，记者目睹了一场武装搜救训练。 “某海域飞行员跳伞待援！”特情突至，该旅某大队官兵立即奔赴战位。机场跑道上，咸湿的海风裹挟着引擎的轰鸣，灌入记者耳中。数架直升机列阵待发。 “起飞！”随着塔台指挥员王波一声令下，战鹰迅疾升空，向海天交接处飞去，机腹下挂载的实弹泛着银光。完成隐蔽突防后，武装伴随的直升机编组率先抵达目标海域上空。飞行员紧握操纵杆，不断调整飞行姿态，机组成员根据塔台提供的信息，结合海面气象情况，立即展开低空侦察，快速搜索“敌”威胁目标并建立最佳攻击航线。领航员不断通报航行诸元，机长根据引导精准锁定目标。随着空中指挥员一声令下，霎时，几架直升机接续发起俯冲攻击，一枚枚火箭弹呼啸而出，低空掠海精准命中“敌”威胁目标，靶标处火光四射、硝烟弥漫。随后，救援直升机前出，一个灵巧侧飞切入目标空域。空中救生员利用绞车、钢索等装备实施吊救，成功救起“落水飞行员”，顺利完成任务。 “战场上，敌人不会让你轻轻松松把人救走。很多时候，搜救行动本身，就是在枪林弹雨中的‘抢人’战斗。只有平时练强武装搜救能力，战时才能开辟可靠的‘生命通道’。”硝烟渐散，额头沁汗的王波向记者介绍，武装开辟搜救场是他们训练的重难点课目，“战场搜救就像‘虎口夺命’，这要求我们不仅会‘救’还要能‘打’，得先有本事把‘虎牙’拔掉！” “为啥要练‘虎口拔牙’？”一旁观训的旅领导接过话茬，“战时待救目标很可能处于‘敌’封锁区域，需要先以火力扫清障碍。” “过去开展直升机搜救训练主要围绕搜索目标展开，常在已知条件下进行，像在‘玻璃罩’里练把式，缺少真实战场环境构设，经不起实战检验。”他语气低沉，继续说道，前期调研中他们发现，部分官兵存在“救援力量在作战链中作用有限”等思想误区，认为自己是支援队、预备队，是“战场配角”，导致训练热情不高、创新动力不足。 “究其原因，是实战导向发生了偏移，没有从实战需求出发组训施训。”这名领导语气坚定地说，练兵备战必须摒弃短视思维，既要抓好当下训练成效，更要立足长远淬炼实战硬功，真正练就“平时能援、战时能救”的过硬本领。正是这份清醒认知，推动该旅踏上一条向战转型的突围之路—— 旅党委牢固立起向战为战导向，带领官兵向战发力、固强补弱，加强以火线救援为背景的武装搜救训练，既练救援技能也练真打实抗。与此同时，党委成员深入一线，带领官兵在讨论辨析、谋战研战中转变思想，破除“战场配角”等错误认知……一系列务实措施，让官兵深刻认清：战场上没有旁观者，战斗中不分主配角；搜救力量到哪里，战斗边界就拓展到哪里。采访中，一名大队干部与记者讲起不久前他们与陆军、海军等友邻部队组织的一次联合搜救训练。那天，面对“飞行员在‘敌’火力危险区跳伞”的特情，友邻部队率先派出无人机前出侦察，精准摸排“敌”威胁目标并回传信息；某型固定翼飞机结合信息迅速锁定目标方位后，将态势信息实时传至直升机编队。随后，编队果断出击，对“敌”进行火力打击。 “敌”威胁目标清除后，直升机编队快速转换任务模式：信号搜索、精确定位、出舱吊救……一连串动作行云流水，成功抢回“飞行员”，一条从火线到后方的“生命通道”被打通。这套多机型互补的联合搜救模式，是该旅不断推进训练转型的缩影。随着实战化训练向纵深推进，旅队武装搜救能力正加速向体系作战深度拓展：他们积极开展“武装机+救援机”编组搜救训练，探索“固定翼飞机前出搜索定位+直升机跟进精准救援”等多机互补的协同训练模式；常态开展跨兵种联合训练，从基础的飞行训练、信息通联，到复杂的攻防对抗，在实战实训中全面提升体系协同能力。采访结束时已近黄昏，一架架完成当日训练的战机陆续返航，平稳着陆。记者抬头望去，塔台外墙上的战斗标语“战争就在眼前”，在落日余晖中熠熠闪光。