Advertisement

China's navy and air force prepare for historic combat drill

Joint exercise over East China Sea to depart from traditional predetermined scenarios to better reflect real battle conditions

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The drill suggested military exercises were going off-script to test and improve the fighting skills of the forces, military commentators said. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese naval and air forces will hold their first joint air combat drill, putting their personnel through realistic confrontations rather than scripted scenarios to improve battle readiness amid the country's bitter territorial rows over the East China Sea.

Advertisement

The drill would involve a naval aviation unit from the navy's East Sea Fleet and a star fighter jet unit from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, the military's official mouthpiece, said yesterday.

The troops would conduct one-on-one confrontations and the forces would include the country's third-generation fighter jets, the most widely used model on the mainland. The paper did not give further details on the drill's location or length.

The exercise aimed to break down barriers between the various wings of the PLA and would pave the way for more regular mixed-forces drills, the paper said.

The drill suggested military exercises were going off-script to test and improve the fighting skills of the forces, military commentators said.

Advertisement

"China's military drills used to have a script - preplanned scenarios between the 'red army' and its pseudo opponent 'blue army'. And of course the 'red army' always wins," Macau-based military analyst Antony Wong Dong said. "Such air combat drills are very common in the United States, but China has been behind."

Advertisement