PLA joint cyberwarfare drill to show new strength and sophistication

The People's Liberation Army will conduct its first joint combat drills involving cyberwarfare, special troops, army aviation and electronic countermeasures units next month to test the integration and co-ordination of its land and air forces, state media reported yesterday.

Eight military academies will also join the exercises. Military experts said the high-profile drills were aimed at showing the world China had successfully narrowed the gap with Western countries in terms of modern warfare strategies.

Xinhua said the joint exercises would be staged at the mainland's biggest military training area, at the Zhurihe base inInner Mongolia , late next month.

It quoted the PLA's general staff department as saying that forces from the 38th and 65th combined corps of the Beijing military area command and academies including those focused on special operations, army aviation and defence information, and the air force's early-warning school would take part.

It would be the first PLA exercise to focus on different combat forces and using digital technology in a modern warfare scenario, Xinhua said.

The drill will simulate "non-contact assaults" alongside conventional operations.