Biggest military show in decades

China is poised to stage a grand military parade in Beijing on Tuesday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of New China's founding. The event will be the country's 15th National Day parade and the largest of its kind in more than six decades.

About 15,000 officers and soldiers from the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police Force, the reserve services and the militia will participate in the parade. Fifteen units of soldiers will march down Chang'an Avenue.

A total of 580 pieces of weaponry and military hardware from 32 units will showcase the nation's prowess in land and sea combat, air and missile defense, information operations, unmanned tasks, logistics support and strategic strikes.

In addition, over 160 fighter jets, bombers, early-warning and control planes, attack helicopters and other types of military aircraft from 12 units will demonstrate the country's air power.

It will be the first National Day parade for the PLA Strategic Support Force and the PLA Joint Logistic Support Force, which were established in recent years. It will also be the first time China's peacekeeping troops take part in a parade.

The parade is intended to highlight the capabilities of Chinese armed forces in joint operations and training and integrated logistics support. Those capabilities have been enhanced through the ongoing military reforms, which were launched in late 2015 by President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Advanced weapons are set to be unveiled at the event, including the nuclear-capable DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile and ZTQ-15 lightweight battle tank.