Beijing marks 73rd anniversary of Chinese navy with video of amphibious landing, island-control drills
- CCTV series coincides with defence minister telling his US counterpart not to underestimate Beijing’s determination or ability to defend its interests
- Use of PLA paratroopers in recent drills appears influenced by the failures of the Russian military during invasion of Ukraine, according to analyst
Video shown on the state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday depicted at least a dozen ZTD-05 amphibious assault vehicles sending marines to attack a simulated enemy base during a recent island seizure drill. Airborne troops landed on the island from Z-8 transport helicopters soon after the marines wiped out all key military assets.
Other CCTV reports this week showed almost all airborne troops in the Eastern and Southern theatre commands – which would be responsible for a “Taiwan reunification” war – being dropped by transport aircraft into unfamiliar places at night for infiltration and control drills.
On Wednesday, CCTV said a recent exercise featured dozens of camouflaged airborne troops dropped by helicopter to approach an “enemy base” for close-in reconnaissance. The paratroopers were reported to operate sophisticated equipment to communicate with army aviation colleagues using classified digital communication codes.
The drill wrapped up after armed helicopters staged full-scale attacks to destroy all the enemy’s key military assets, guided by intelligence from the paratroopers.
“It’s very easy to be spotted [by enemies] if we let aerial surveillance aircraft take close-in reconnaissance tasks in a single one-unit strategy,” Li Jianjun, a pilot with the 74th Army Group based in Huizhou, Guangdong province, told CCTV.