Chinese troops step up combat-focused drills

Chinese armed forces across multiple services and commands have stepped up combat-oriented training at the start of the new year, with exercises highlighting joint operations, unmanned systems and realistic battlefield conditions.

Troops stationed in the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea conducted multi-subject, combat-focused drills, according to a news release from the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command on Sunday. The training, which emphasized multi-domain coordination and joint combat effectiveness, aimed to further enhance island-and-reef coordinated operational capabilities.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command on Sunday also released a series of photos showing its troops training in the new year, saying its soldiers are throwing themselves into training and combat preparedness "in a combat-ready state" to ensure "they can fight and win when called upon".

The military's Rocket Force released footage on its social media account showing a missile launch simulation exercise in a field training ground. The video showed missile vehicles quickly moving toward a designated combat position. After arriving, operators rapidly deployed equipment, established networks and links, and carried out precise operations as the system entered the launch procedure.

A security and protection team conducted intensive perimeter searches and alerts, using technologies such as drones and robot dogs to build three-dimensional and full-coverage vigilance and ensure area security, the video showed.

The PLA Ground Force, meanwhile, has placed a focus on drone operations during its new year training, China Media Group reported. In a field exercise by the PLA 79th Group Army, light drones repeatedly penetrated simulated enemy positions to conduct bombing runs, create smoke screens and guide infantry assaults.

Liu Wenyu, a soldier from a brigade under the group army, was quoted as saying that on today's battlefield, drones have evolved from a single reconnaissance tool into a highly specialized tactical system. The report said the troops also explored the battlefield use of quadruped robots and First-Person View suicide drones in integrated combat training.

The PLA Navy also conducted combat-oriented drills at a military port in Qingdao, the report said, involving multiple types of destroyers and frigates, including the CNS Nanchang, CNS Xining and CNS Weifang. Training scenarios included ship handling and weapons use under complex weather conditions, as well as naval gunfire drills targeting sea and shore. The drills also included live firing of anti-frogman munitions, according to the report.