Exercises of higher frequency and complexity aim to improve readiness

The People's Liberation Army Ground Force is making efforts to improve its combat readiness and capability.

Fifteen infantry, artillery and air defense brigades from the PLA Ground Force took part in more than 100 live-fire exercises in 2016. At the height of these exercises, there were more than 400,000 troops simultaneously conducting drills on plateaus, islands, mountains and deserts, according to a news release from the Ground Force.

The exercises incorporated realistic battlefield scenarios, focusing on reconnaissance, intelligence collection and mobile defense capabilities, which were seen as a weakness of the Ground Force, it said.

Ding Wei, commander of a Ground Force armored brigade, said his unit encountered scenarios simulating biological and chemical attacks and guerrilla warfare on their way to a live-fire exercise in July at the Zhurihe training base in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Such scenarios tested and strengthened the brigade's emergency response capability, Ding said.

He said that during the July exercise involving his brigade and an adversary brigade in Zhurihe, the use of helicopters, special task forces, technical reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures was more frequent compared with previous exercises, indicating that the Ground Force is determined to make sure its fighting units are able to control such situations in real wars.

A total of 15 live-fire exercises were conducted last year between the Ground Force's combat brigades and the adversary brigade, which is stationed in Zhurihe and is tasked with simulating enemy operations. The adversary brigade won all of the exercises.

Sun Yuduo, director of the training bureau under the PLA Ground Force's Staff Department, said the failures of the combat brigades are "a good thing" because they reminded the units of their shortcomings and would enable them to improve their capabilities.

In summer 2016, the Ground Force held discussions and conducted a tour at the Zhurihe training base, during which top commanders and more than 230 senior officers of the Ground Force discussed how to improve realistic combat training.

The Ground Force also sent 17 teams to take part in international military competitions last year and used the events to discover areas in which the Ground Force still lags behind compared with other armies.

The PLA Ground Force Headquarters and its regional commands have introduced a number of policies and guidelines to improve combat-readiness training and exercises, according to the news release.

The headquarters was established in December 2015. Historically, the Ground Force did not have its own headquarters because its units were under the direct control of the Central Military Commission, while the seven former regional commands oversaw the operations of land units under their jurisdictions.

During an inspection tour of the PLA Ground Force Headquarters in July, President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the CMC, asked the Ground Force to improve its mobility and joint operation capability.

Xi asked the force to simulate realistic combat situations in its training and drills, and to enhance the precision and efficiency in reconnaissance, command and control, logistics support and strike operations.

The Ground Force must improve its air-land operations, emergency response, long-distance deployment, special warfare and "strategic assaults", Xi said.