The Victory Answer Sheet of the "Underground Dragon Palace" — An Observation Report from a Rocket Force Brigade
The Victory Answer Sheet of the "Underground Dragon Palace" — An Observation Report from a Rocket Force Brigade
■ PLA Daily Reporters Li Youzhi, Special Correspondents Yin Jiaquan and Zhao Lei
At the stroke of midnight, deep in the mountains of the "Underground Dragon Palace," a Rocket Force brigade suddenly launched a simulated launch training exercise focused on rapid strike and rapid withdrawal. At the commander's order, vehicles of each combat element moved like the wind, driving straight to their positions. The officers and soldiers executed a series of operations with fluid precision, successfully achieving "ignition."
Upon returning to camp, system parameter calibration, link testing, fuel resupply — equipment status restoration operations proceeded in an orderly fashion, with every operation benchmarked against the standard of actual combat, making full preparations for the next mission.
Tempering the sword deep in the mountains, the sword points toward victory. This is a snapshot of the brigade's routine combat readiness training, conducted in accordance with the core capability requirements of "ready to fight at any time, launch on schedule, and achieve effective destruction." In recent years, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military, they have kept their eyes fixed on operational missions, fixed on powerful adversaries, and fixed on future warfare, continuously breaking through the bottlenecks and difficulties in combat capability generation, and always maintaining the combat posture of "arrow nocked and drawn, ready to fire" (箭在弦上、引而待发), ensuring they can be deployed at any time, hold the line, and win.
Personnel and Equipment Maintained at "Full Capacity," the Sharp Sword Always Nocked and Ready
Inside the "Underground Dragon Palace" deep in the mountains, figures move back and forth in front of launch vehicles, as engine sounds and command calls rise and fall in turn — a duty detachment is conducting routine maintenance on weapons and equipment.
In front of the equipment vehicle, duty detachment Commander Cui leads officers and soldiers in systematically inspecting and registering key components of each system against maintenance requirements.
"One extra measure of rigor in peacetime means one extra measure of confidence in winning in wartime." Commander Cui explained that in recent years, the brigade has, in accordance with the requirement that "missions set standards, standards set procedures, and procedures set responsibilities," converted the parameter requirements of each combat readiness duty shift and live-fire launch into standardized daily maintenance checklists, established a system of daily inspections, weekly maintenance, and monthly servicing, and through multiple means including system self-checks, parameter verification, and status assessment, ensured that personnel and equipment remain at "full capacity."
During a routine inspection not long ago, a crew member discovered an abnormal output voltage in a certain power module. Although it was far from reaching the fault threshold, it could potentially cause deviations in launch accuracy. Commander Cui immediately reported the situation, and experts from the brigade's technical office conducted an on-site consultation, ultimately locating the fault. The brigade then launched a special inspection, effectively avoiding potential fault risks.
"Whatever the operational mission requires, that is what we train to perfection — we cannot be satisfied merely with 'functional,' but must pursue 'fast to use' and 'good to use.'" The squad leader of a testing squad in one of the brigade's battalions was optimizing operational procedures in accordance with the new military training syllabus. In recent years, he has innovatively designed dozens of fixture components, significantly reducing manual operation time.
"The grounding cable scheme is not optimized enough — preliminary preparations take too long." "There are gaps in inter-position coordination and handoff, affecting deployment time." In the operations room, officers and soldiers did not conceal shortcomings or avoid problems, but directly confronted each difficulty and conducted special research. The brigade's leadership said they routinely organize officers and soldiers to study and research the principles of weapons and equipment, and focusing on the combat preparation phase, have worked out methods such as the two-person cooperative disassembly method and the pre-positioning of status preparation steps, effectively shortening combat preparation time.
"Reducing time is not about blindly seeking speed, but about optimizing operational procedures on the basis of zero errors." The squad leader frankly stated that as the "gatekeeper" of the initial equipment testing phase, the more precise and streamlined the operations, the faster the deployment speed. To balance safety and efficiency, he led his squad through repeated deliberation: pre-fixing grounding cables, scientifically dividing operational zones, optimizing personnel assignments, eliminating redundant steps — ultimately achieving a significant reduction in overall operation time. Their methods were certified by technical experts and promoted throughout the entire brigade.
Everyone a "Multi-Role Operator" (多面手), Every Battle Position Has a Substitute
"The position has come under chemical attack, causing personnel 'casualties.'" As night fell, a sharp alarm shattered the silence on the position. Launch frame Commander Zhang quickly organized personnel to implement protective measures and directed vehicles to withdraw from the "contaminated zone."
After personnel were assembled and accounted for, Commander Zhang immediately linked up with personnel from other launch frames and reorganized the personnel positions into two launch frame configurations. Personnel positions were seamlessly integrated, and two successive waves of full-process combat launch operations were alternately conducted, successfully completing the simulated counterattack mission.
Stepping off the training ground, Commander Zhang told reporters that this training was different from before — they had compressed the original establishment to minimum position requirements, with combat elements required both to independently execute missions and to reorganize with other combat elements based on battlefield conditions to execute multi-directional combat missions. This was an entirely new test of officers' and soldiers' ability to handle situations on the fly.
This change originated from the brigade party committee's reflective questioning of battlefield requirements. During a previous training exercise, the "death" of a key crew member caused the launch procedure to be interrupted, exposing a real-combat shortcoming in the unit.
"When combat attrition occurs, can the unit complete combat power reconstitution in an extremely short time?" "When multi-directional missions are issued simultaneously, does the existing establishment have the flexible adaptive capacity?" At the after-action review, one question after another was placed on the table, sparking heated discussion among officers and soldiers. In the end, consensus was reached: the current situation of positional barriers, fixed establishments, and insufficient cross-specialty integration must be broken, driving officers and soldiers to make the capability leap from "mastery of one position" to "competency across multiple positions."
Confronting capability shortfalls head-on, precisely charting the blueprint for talent cultivation. "Our goal is to cultivate composite battle-position experts who can step in and fill any position at any time." The brigade's leadership introduced that, in accordance with a three-tier cultivation system of "basic subjects trained collectively, specialized subjects trained in rotation, and key subjects trained to perfection," all officers and soldiers are required to master at least two positional skills, while personnel in key positions must possess the capability for three positions, achieving "full personnel proficiency across all positions, specialized expertise in one's own position, and familiarity with cross-position techniques." In addition, the brigade has formed a team of technical experts to provide one-on-one mentorship and guidance, with officers and soldiers improving operational skills through mutual learning and practice, and overcoming technical difficulties under expert instruction.
During daily training, fire control operator Xiao Li and relay operator Xiao Wang paired up for mutual learning; the two often used rest time for extra practice and achieved cross-position interchangeable operations in just one month. Technical office Engineer Zhang and launch squad leader Zhao formed a mentor-apprentice pair; for a debugging problem with a certain equipment system raised by Squad Leader Zhao, Engineer Zhang provided hands-on instruction inside the equipment bay, analyzing system principles and explaining troubleshooting techniques.
Not long after, they faced a major test. During modular grouping training, the directing element continuously set special situations including command chain interruption and "death" of key position crew members. One launch element, under conditions of "fifty-percent attrition," rapidly achieved personnel reorganization and efficiently completed equipment debugging, fault clearance, and simulated launch tasks within the specified time.
"Multi-capable does not mean all-capable — precise positioning is essential to prevent 'appearing all-capable while actually being superficial.'" The brigade's leadership said that starting from precision-oriented talent cultivation, they have tailored a "1+X" growth roadmap for each officer and soldier — "1" means consolidating core capabilities, while "X" means expanding associated skills around mission requirements, avoiding capability "bloat."
The philosophy of scientific personnel development has generated a new atmosphere in military training. After joining the unit, Private Xiao Liu proactively focused intensive study on the specialized theory, operational skills, and fault situations of other specialty positions — from daytime operations to nighttime blind operations — and mastered the basic operations of two positions in just three months. During one simulated training assessment, when the launch frame commander was struck and "wounded," Senior Sergeant Wu temporarily took over, rapidly handled the special situation, and successfully completed the assigned mission.
Everyone a "multi-role operator," every battle position has a substitute. Today, every launch frame has become an independent combat element that can be disaggregated, reorganized, and upgraded. The substitute capability of some key positions exceeds the "one primary, two backup" standard, and the unit's mission execution capability has achieved a leap. The brigade's leadership told reporters: "When 'one specialty, multiple capabilities' becomes standard and 'one position, multiple backups' becomes the norm, the unit has far greater confidence in being ready to fight at any time."
Boldly Storming the Extreme Limits of Training, Forging Full-Domain Victory Capabilities
A sleepless night. After a brief rest, one missile launch vehicle after another drove into the operations shed in the morning light, and a competition quietly got underway. Two launch battalions faced off directly, each posing difficult problems and setting dangerous situations for the other: battlefield situation assessment, concealment and camouflage, special situation handling — after dozens of rounds, the air was thick with the "smell of gunpowder."
"Preparing for war, we must account for every possibility on the future battlefield." A staff officer from the brigade's operations and training section explained that the brigade, by constructing realistic adversarial environments and simulating real battlefield conditions, compels officers and soldiers to forge real-combat hard skills through hard-fought competition.
Entering the "Underground Dragon Palace," a heavy iron door quietly closes, as if separating two worlds. Officers and soldiers of one detachment, in a completely sealed underground position, rapidly shifted into a "wartime" state: oxygen content in the air continuously declining, daily rations compressed to minimum standards, lights flickering on and off without pattern around the clock, all external communications cut off, psychological pressure ever-present and accumulating layer by layer.
"This is extreme tempering against fatigue, thirst, oxygen deprivation, and disrupted sleep cycles." Political Instructor Li of one of the brigade's battalions frankly stated that officers and soldiers remain in the sealed environment for dozens of days at a stretch, enduring extreme physical and psychological tests.
"In the past, training intensity was insufficient. Now, not a single required subject is missing, not a single required operation is skipped, and not a single required test is reduced." One participating crew member said: "Only by repeatedly tempering and switching between 'pre-combat state' (临战状态) and 'combat state' (作战状态) can one truly develop a wartime state."
"Future warfare is not just about who is faster — it also comes down to who shoots more accurately and hits harder." The battalion commander of one of the brigade's battalions said they insist on treating every training exercise as actual combat, incorporating every link into battlefield assessment, continuously optimizing procedures and refining details, ensuring precise hits and effective destruction at the critical moment.
From "fighting for every fraction" in equipment procedures to the "full-dimensional reshaping" of the talent system, from pragmatic innovation in tactics and methods to efficient coordination in support modes — in recent years, the brigade has continuously organized garrison training in complex and unfamiliar terrain, constructed realistic battlefield environments, increased training difficulty and intensity, and continuously driven the deepening and solidification of training and combat readiness.
Today, in the "Underground Dragon Palace," one "war deduction" (战争推演) after another without gunsmoke continues. Officers and soldiers use data to assess training effectiveness and use actual-combat standards to verify operational procedures. They know full well that every precise and efficient "ignition" training exercise is the most powerful and resolute answer to the question of daring to fight and being certain of victory.
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