Exercises Doctrine

Strong Military Forum | Honing Real-Combat Capabilities Through Realistic Battlefield Environments

强军论坛丨以逼真战场环境砥砺实战本领

PLA Daily (解放军报) 23 May 2026

Summary

An opinion piece in the PLA's Strong Military Forum by Chen Bo argues that combat-realistic training (实战化训练) fails when enemy-situation settings become formulaic, special-situation handling is simplified, and adversarial exercises are proceduralized — and prescribes constructing battlefield environments featuring unfamiliar terrain, complex weather, extreme conditions, and intelligent opposing forces (智能蓝军). The article documents a persistent institutional tension the PLA acknowledges openly: training that looks rigorous on paper drifts toward scripted performance, and the prescribed corrective — difficulty, unpredictability, science and technology empowerment (科技赋能) — is itself a standing formula repeated across PLA training discourse. Its value is as a baseline record of how the institution frames the realism problem to mid-grade commanders, not as evidence of a doctrinal shift.

Translation

Honing Real-Combat Capabilities Through Realistic Battlefield Environments

■ Chen Bo

"More representative scenarios, more comprehensive content, more diverse means." Not long ago, media reported on the practices of military units across the armed forces in constructing realistic battlefield environments to drive improvements in combat-realistic training (实战化训练). This profoundly instructs commanders at all levels that deepening combat readiness training must never be divorced from real-combat environments — only by making environments more dangerous, conditions more difficult, and adversaries stronger during training can we truly forge officers' and soldiers' war-winning capabilities and sharpen units' real-combat capacity.

Chairman Xi has pointed out that "troops must be tempered and trained through arduous and rigorous training, in near-combat environments, and in severe and complex military struggles." Solidly advancing the transformation of military training requires adhering to the principle that troops train in whatever environment they will fight in. Training frequently in complex environments in peacetime will yield greater confidence in winning on the battlefield in wartime. If training is conducted over a long period in only one type of climate or one category of environment, no matter how outstanding the results achieved, it will be difficult to effectively respond to different situations on an actual battlefield.

We often say that combat readiness training must be targeted (有针对性). This targeting requires officers and soldiers to be well acquainted not only with enemy and friendly situations, but also with the battlefield environment. In training, in addition to realistically simulating a powerful adversary, commanders at all levels should actively construct battlefield environments that match future operations, guiding officers and soldiers to refine their martial skills and strengthen their capabilities within realistic battlefield environments. Looking across the history of war, the battlefield environment has always been an important factor influencing the outcome of war. From the mountain passes and strategic defiles of cold-weapon combat, to the trenches and fortified positions of firearms-era engagements, to the all-domain, multi-dimensional space of informatized and intelligentized warfare (信息化智能化战争), as the form of war has continuously evolved, the complexity of the battlefield environment has kept climbing. Yet one law remains constant throughout the ages: whoever can better adapt to the battlefield environment and master complex situations will seize the initiative for victory and hold the upper hand on the battlefield.

A complex battlefield environment is the "whetstone" that sharpens combat power and the "touchstone" that tests the effectiveness of training. Modern warfare is a contest between systems (体系) and systems, exhibiting developmental trends of multi-domain linkage, multi-dimensional strikes, and multi-directional assaults. The battlefield environment changes in an instant, with enemy situations and dangerous situations intertwined and compounding, placing higher demands on officers' and soldiers' capacity for emergency response, system-of-systems confrontation (体系对抗), and extreme-pressure endurance. If training is content to proceed by the book — with enemy-situation settings becoming formulaic, special-situation handling becoming simplified, and adversarial exercises becoming proceduralized — it may appear smooth and lively on the surface, but in reality it drifts ever further from real combat, and once on the battlefield it will inevitably fall into a passive position.

The key to constructing a realistic battlefield environment lies in being "real" (真). This "real" is not simply a matter of simulating scenes and laying out dispositions; it must also be reflected in training from a position of difficulty and strictness. This requires commanders at all levels to proactively set up difficult situations and dangerous situations, organizing officers and soldiers to be tempered and tested in unfamiliar terrain, complex weather, and extreme conditions, and to build strength through high-intensity confrontation, high-risk special situations, and high-pressure postures. Only by consistently putting strictness first — ensuring that training difficulty genuinely rises, intensity is genuinely maximized, and standards are genuinely rigorous — can officers and soldiers feel battlefield pressure, forge their combat will, and develop war-winning skills through real fighting and real resistance.

Forging combat power under complex battlefield environments cannot be separated from science and technology empowerment (科技赋能). The degree of informatization in modern warfare continues to rise, intelligentized characteristics are increasingly evident, and the science and technology content grows ever higher. Facing this trend, it is imperative to proactively strengthen science and technology-based training (科技练兵), enhance officers' and soldiers' science and technology literacy, intensify training on new equipment, new forces, and new domains, and develop advanced training means and methods to substantially raise the science and technology content of training. Commanders at all levels should proactively learn and apply advanced means such as virtual simulation and intelligent opposing forces (智能蓝军), narrow the gap between training and warfare, drive the transformation of training, and organize officers and soldiers to strengthen their adaptive capacity and warfighting skills through immersive, system-of-systems, and intelligentized confrontation — thereby forging elite troops that come when called, fight when they arrive, and win every battle (召之即来、来之能战、战之必胜).

Original Chinese

以逼真战场环境砥砺实战本领 ■陈博 “场景更典型、内容更全面、手段更多样。”前不久，媒体报道了全军部队构设逼真战场环境推动实战化训练水平提升的做法。这深刻启示各级指挥员，深化练兵备战，决不能脱离实战环境，在训练中把环境设险、把条件设难、把对手设强，才能真正锤炼官兵胜战本领，砥砺部队实战能力。习主席指出，“要在艰苦严格的训练中、在近似实战的环境中、在严峻复杂的军事斗争中摔打和锻炼部队”。扎实推进军事训练转型，必须坚持仗在什么环境中打，兵就在什么环境中练。平时多在复杂环境中练兵，战时打赢底气就会更足。如果长期只在一种气候、一类环境中训练，哪怕取得的成绩再优异，真上了战场也难以有效应对不同局面。我们常讲，练兵备战要有针对性。这个针对性，要求官兵既要熟知敌情、我情，也要熟悉战场环境。训练中，除了真实模拟强大对手，各级指挥员还应积极构设与未来作战相匹配的战场环境，引导官兵在逼真战场环境中精武强能。纵观战争史，战场环境始终是影响战争胜负的重要因素。从冷兵器对决的山川关隘，到热兵器交锋的阵地沟壑，再到信息化智能化战争的全域多维空间，随着战争形态不断演进，战场环境的复杂程度持续攀升。然而，有一条规律亘古不变：谁能更好适应战场环境、驾驭复杂态势，谁就能抢占制胜先机、掌握战场主动。复杂战场环境是砥砺战斗力的“磨刀石”，也是检验练兵成效的“试金石”。现代战争是体系与体系之间的对抗，呈现多域联动、多维打击、多向突击的发展趋势，战场环境瞬息万变、特情险情交织叠加，对官兵应急处置、体系对抗、极限抗压能力提出了更高要求。倘若训练满足于按部就班，敌情设置套路化、特情处置简单化、对抗演练程序化，看似顺顺利利、热热闹闹，实则与实战渐行渐远，上了战场必然陷入被动。构设逼真战场环境，关键在“真”。这个“真”，不仅是简单模拟场景、布设态势，还要体现在从难从严上。这要求各级指挥员主动设难局、布险局，组织官兵到陌生地域、复杂天候、极限条件下淬火历练，在高强度对抗、高风险特情、高压力态势中强筋壮骨。只有坚持严字当头，确保训练难度真上去、强度真拉满、标准真过硬，才能让官兵在真打实抗中感受战场压力、砥砺战斗意志、练就胜战之功。锤炼复杂战场环境下的战斗力，离不开科技赋能。现代战争信息化程度不断提高，智能化特征日益显现，科技含量越来越高。面对这一趋势，必须主动强化科技练兵，增强官兵科技素养，加强新装备新力量新领域训练，发展先进训练手段和方法，大幅提高训练科技含量。各级指挥员应主动学习运用虚拟仿真、智能蓝军等先进手段，缩小训战差距、推动训练转型，组织官兵在沉浸式、体系化、智能化对抗中强化应变能力和打仗本领，从而锻造召之即来、来之能战、战之必胜的精兵劲旅。