Joint PLA drill in Tibet sends strong warning to India, say analysts
- During the training over two days and one night, combined forces carried out a shell raid, electromagnetic attack and espionage, according to CCTV
- Quality production and absence of propaganda voice-over ‘gives a feeling of strong, real combat’, says military expert
Combat units joining the drill included an elite regiment from the military district, alpine troops, forces with tanks and military vehicles, artillery personnel, missile forces, drones, intelligence personnel, army aviation teams, and airborne troops, the CCTV video clip showed.
During the training over two days and one night, the PLA carried out a shell raid by an artillery force, electromagnetic attack, observation and espionage, with a 12-member alpine team in snow camouflage climbing to a peak of over 6,100 metres (20,000 feet) to monitor and collect accurate attack intelligence.
Coordinate data relating to the blue army outpost was sent to the command centre in real time, allowing precision strikes by the artillery and howitzer forces at the front line.
The drill also saw the anti-aircraft artillery troop shoot down drone aircraft, aided by an intelligence reconnaissance brigade, which also sent electromagnetic interference to confuse and mislead the enemy.
To win, the PLA sent drones to bomb obstacles, pushing forward attacks by armoured and artillery troops, as well as landing airborne troops to infiltrate the blue army enemy.
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After several hours of precision strikes into rival battlefields by PLA infantries, a tank unit, howitzers and armed helicopters, the PLA’s elite unit – a sniper platoon from the Baiyunshan Tuan, or White Cloud Mountain regiment – took a 4,800-metre mountain from the blue army.
The video clip of over seven minutes did not use a propaganda voice-over and was apparently put together using live recordings and sound recorded during the drills, resulting in a well-edited production attempting to show the Tibet border troops’ combat-readiness, according to Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Tong.
“The video gives a feeling of strong, real combat due to very little post-production – which is quite rare,” Wong said.
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Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology institute in Beijing, said the “blue army” designation was a hint at the Indian troops.
“The video aimed to warn the Indian side that the mountain brigades in the Tibet Military District, especially the Baiyunshan regiment, are all well-trained and combat-ready,” Zhou said.
