"August 1st" Special Feature | Officers and Soldiers Across the Armed Forces Steadfastly Advance Combat Training and War Preparedness with High Spirits
"August 1st" Special Feature — Loyal Hearts Illuminate Mountains and Rivers, the Battlefield Tempers Elite Soldiers: Officers and Soldiers Across the Armed Forces Steadfastly Advance Combat Training and War Preparedness with High Spirits
■ PLA Daily Reporters Yang Yue, Xiang Liming, Wang Yue
An artillery element of an Army brigade conducts live-fire shooting training. Photo by PLA Daily special correspondent Liu Zhiyong.
Loyal hearts illuminate mountains and rivers; the battlefield tempers elite soldiers. On the eve of "August 1st," military camps across the length and breadth of the country surge with the tide of combat-realistic (实战化) military training. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military, the broad ranks of officers and soldiers are carrying out high-quality training and high-standard war preparedness in earnest, welcoming the People's Armed Forces' 99th birthday with high spirits, and going all out to fight the decisive battle (攻坚战) to achieve the centenary goal of army-building (建军一百年奋斗目标). From the vast skies to the boundless blue waves, from the snow-capped plateau to the deep mountain forests, a magnificent panorama of battle-oriented troop tempering (向战砺兵) and concentrated effort at breakthroughs (聚力攻坚) is unfolding across the training grounds of the entire armed forces.
In the deep mountains of the south, ridges and peaks rise in layers. A combat-realistic combined-arms training exercise erupted in full force at the "Brave in Attack and Skilled in Defense Hero Battalion" of a brigade under the 73rd Group Army. Officers and soldiers, operating in complex terrain, broke from fixed squad and platoon organizations and flexibly reorganized according to combat mission: assault teams conducted concealed infiltration to penetrate core areas and breach obstacles; support teams seized high ground to suppress and cover assault operations with firepower; sniper teams moved covertly on flanking routes to precisely eliminate concealed targets. "We continuously innovate our training models, carefully study tactics and training methods (战法训法), and strive to forge hard-won skills," said Xin Qiannian, an officer of the battalion.
On the waters of the East China Sea, waves surge and spray. The Navy's CNS Guangxi, together with several other vessels, formed a task formation and, carrying hovercraft and shipborne helicopters, set out for the mission sea area to conduct specialized and intensive training (专攻精练) in subjects including amphibious projection and ship-aircraft coordination. On the flight deck, shipborne helicopter takeoffs, landings, transfers, and replenishment were interlocked in sequence, with support timelines compressed to the minute; in the well deck, hovercraft slid out through the stern gate, surged forward at high speed, and coordinated closely with airborne forces. Tempering the blade in the vast sea, participating officers and soldiers overcame key and difficult problems (重难点问题) such as sea-air three-dimensional coordination and long-range projection, accelerating the generation of new-quality combat capabilities (新质战斗力).
The night sky darkened; engines roared. An Air Force unit launched a night flight training exercise, with pilots completing multiple takeoff and landing sorties under conditions of darkness. To break through the highly difficult subject of nighttime live-fire ground-target shooting, the unit first organized simulation training and cockpit practicals, combing through the patterns of data variation in night flight by analyzing flight parameters and converting them into operational standards to help pilots consolidate their operational foundations. For the aerial refueling subject, ground coordination training was rigorously organized, research into deviation handling was conducted, and the docking procedure was broken down into a number of key actions. … Through scientific training organization and precise instruction, the unit effectively achieved the goal of "fly one sortie, overcome one problem, produce one set of data, and solidify one methodology."
On the plateau at midnight, the Milky Way hung low. A launch exercise by a Rocket Force brigade erupted suddenly; a convoy of vehicles kicked up rolling clouds of dust through the mountain ranges. Unmanned aerial vehicles circled in the night sky, simulating low-, medium-, and high-altitude reconnaissance; assault team members infiltrated silently, tearing open the "enemy" position's defensive line. … The brigade's leadership explained that the Blue Force element used multiple means to simulate complex battlefield environments including precision strikes and satellite overhead reconnaissance, making things very difficult (吃了"苦头") for the Red Force element. "This kind of 'adversary' is our whetstone for improving combat effectiveness," said the Red Force element commander.
The centenary of the founding of the armed forces is close at hand. At this critical stage of the decisive battle, units across the armed forces are keeping a close eye on changes in technology, changes in warfare, and changes in the adversary (科技之变、战争之变、对手之变), firmly establishing the orientation of "train the way you fight" (仗怎么打、兵就怎么练), actively exploring training models suited to system-of-systems operations (体系作战) and the employment of new-quality forces (新质力量), and continuously shortening the cycle for generating combat effectiveness.
On the Karakoram Plateau at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, officers and soldiers of the Hongshan River Maintenance Station of a brigade under the Information Support Force are in the thick of "battle." Facing "enemy" harassment, participating officers and soldiers rapidly wove an information network (信息天网), aggregating massive volumes of data onto electronic display screens to precisely present the battlefield situation. From taking root on the wind-swept, snow-covered plateau when the station was first established, to proficiently operating new equipment in the new era, the station has progressively advanced from single-element support toward multi-means support, with officers and soldiers continuously achieving capability upgrades through combat-realistic training.
On the Gansu-Qinghai land, a base under the Xining Joint Logistics Support Center conducted a cross-service coordinated training exercise with an Air Force unit. Focusing on fuel supply support during both peacetime and wartime, and on the mission of emergency repair and rescue of fuel depot facilities, they constructed multiple typical support scenarios, randomly introduced special situations such as fuel depot attacks and damage to fixed refueling facilities, and conducted strict training on key and difficult subjects to enhance integrated joint support capabilities (一体化联合保障能力).
In an unfamiliar area, a detachment of the People's Armed Police Jiangxi General Corps organized live-force confrontation training. Company Commander Xiao commanded a small unit to activate its operational plan, employing the tactic of "high-altitude reconnaissance, multi-point delivery" (高空侦察、多点投掷) to counter "enemy" interference, achieving a breakthrough from "knowing how to use" to "using skillfully" with new equipment. During a training break, Company Commander Xiao explained that they are exploring coordinated combat modes under different specialized combat-realistic backgrounds, effectively enhancing the unit's combat effectiveness.
Time waits for no one; the resolve to achieve breakthroughs is unwavering. In the Gobi Desert, inside a combined-arms tactics simulation room of an infantry element of a brigade under the 76th Group Army, a tense combined-arms tactical simulation deduction is underway, with reconnaissance, firepower, communications, and other elements integrated through data links, accumulating data for multiple types of equipment operating in complex environments. Traveling thousands of li, an Air Force radar brigade broke from the static network formation and full-unit deployment model, advancing toward the mission area in modular groupings via mechanized movement, achieving "positions follow the mission, mechanized movement over thousands of li to find the enemy." On the snow-capped plateau, a battalion of the People's Armed Police 2nd Mobile Corps conducted long-range garrison training, forcing officers and soldiers to practice coordination and tactics (练协同、练战法) in extreme environments, forging and elevating the unit's mission-execution capabilities. …
Ninety-nine years of weathering wind and rain together; ninety-nine years of loyalty as firm as bedrock. On the new journey, officers and soldiers across the armed forces are accelerating their charge with their eyes fixed on the mission, forging war-winning capabilities (胜战本领) through solid training, and fighting with all their strength toward achieving the centenary goal of army-building on schedule.
Photos provided by: Su Yang, Kang Yixing, Chen Junming, Qiao Chenxi, Xia Yukang, Peng Yong
Layout design: Wang Jia
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