Marines conduct live-fire exercises in Xinjiang
Updated: 2016-01-26 08:08
By Zhao Lei(China Daily)
|
||||||||
Heavy machine gunners from the PLA Navy Marine Corps take part in a live-fire drill held in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Friday. Shi Jiamin / for China Daily |
The Marine Corps of the People's Liberation Army Navy conducted its first live-fire drills in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region over the weekend, the Navy said in a statement.
During the exercises that started on Friday at a training base in a desert, a Marine Corps battalion sent marines, artillery units and armored vehicles to launch simulated offensives against a heavily armed infantry company from the Xinjiang Military Command. Taking advantage of its better mobility and stronger firepower, the Marine Corps battalion overpowered the infantry company and occupied the designated areas, the Navy said.
It added this is the farthest and longest training operation the Marine Corps has ever conducted.
Admiral Wu Shengli, commander of the PLA Navy who inspected the event, said that marines must be trained in all geographic areas.
Senior Captain Chen Weidong, commander of a Marine Corps brigade that took part in the drills, said the operations honed and tested combat capabilities.
"They also improved our abilities in terms of combined force command, unit coordination as well as battlefield support and logistics," he said.
In addition to the Marine Corps, a special warfare regiment from the PLA Navy staged a counterterrorism exercise at the desert base during the same period. Soldiers practiced reconnaissance, encirclement, detention, hostage extrication and rapid evacuation, according to the statement.
Hundreds of marines and soldiers from the special warfare regiment departed from their bases in South China in early January. They traveled nearly 6,000 km and arrived in Xinjiang before the Cold Training 2016 Kuerle drills unfolded in mid-January. Before the live-fire exercises, they performed training for night operations, joint strikes and unit coordination.
The recent drills are the third winter training operations of the PLA Navy's Marine Corps.
The force performed its first winter exercises at the Zhurihe training base in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 2014, and then in early 2015 a training session was opened at the Taonan training base in Northeast China's Jilin province.
Rear Admiral Li Xiaoyan, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Navy's South Sea Fleet, who oversaw the winter drills, said that this year's event took place in a more complicated environment and under worse weather conditions.
The lowest temperatures in Kuerle over the past two weeks ranged from-15C to-20C, according to the local meteorological authority.
"The realistic scenarios have enabled us to improve the marines' long-range operational capabilities and their adaptability to an extremely cold environment," he said.
- A glimpse of Spring Rush: little migrant birds on the way home
- Policy puts focus on genuine artistic students
- Police unravel market where babies are bought, sold as commodities
- More older pregnant women expected
- Netizen backlash 'ugly' Spring Festival Gala mascot
- China builds Mongolian language corpus
- 2 Chinese nationals killed, 1 injured in suspected bomb attack in Laos
- New York, Washington clean up after fatal blizzard
- 'Plane wreckage' found in Thailand fuels talk of missing Malaysian jet
- Washington shuts down govt, NY rebounds after blizzard
- 7 policemen, 3 civilians killed in Egypt's Giza blast
- Former US Marine held in Iran arrives home after swap
- Drone makers see soaring growth but dark clouds circle industry
- China's Zhang reaches Australian Open quarterfinals
- Spring Festival in the eyes of Chinese painters
- Cold snap brings joy and beauty to south China
- The making of China Daily's Tibetan-style English font
- First trains of Spring Festival travel depart around China
- Dough figurines of Monkey King welcome the New Year
- Ning Zetao, Liu Hong named China's athletes of the year
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
8 highlights about V-day Parade |
Glimpses of Tibet: Plateaus, people and faith |
Chinese entrepreneurs remain optimistic despite economic downfall |
50th anniversary of Tibet autonomous region |
Tianjin explosions: Deaths, destruction and bravery |
Cinemas enjoy strong first half |
Today's Top News
National Art Museum showing 400 puppets in new exhibition
Finest Chinese porcelains expected to fetch over $28 million
Monkey portraits by Chinese ink painting masters
Beijing's movie fans in for new experience
Obama to deliver final State of the Union speech
Shooting rampage at US social services agency leaves 14 dead
Chinese bargain hunters are changing the retail game
Chinese president arrives in Turkey for G20 summit
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |