September.03 (China Military News cited from Chinamil.com.cn) -- About 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 vehicles of a division under the Shenyang Military Area Command (MAC) participating in "Stride 2009" series military exercise set off on the first day of September from their stationed place in Northeast China to the exercise field at the foot of the Helan Mountain in Northwest China by adopting air transportation. The troops and the combat vehicles were transported to the destination by civil aircraft, train and motorized vehicles. The long-distance delivery of troops marked the beginning of the "Stride 2009 . Qingtongxia" actual-troop test-oriented exercise.
PLA Troops use Civilian Airliner as maneuver tool
It's said that the "Stride 2009 . Qingtongxia" is another trans-MAC actual-troop maneuver exercise of the PLA following the "Stride 2009 . Taonan" and the "Stride 2009 . Luzhai" trans-MAC actual-troop maneuver exercises conducted by the two infantry divisions from the Lanzhou MAC and the Jinan MAC.
The troops of the division will pass through 8 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in 15 days covering 2,500-plus km and during the long-distance maneuver they are scheduled to practise offensive and defensive operations in complicated electromagnetic environment and joint operational battlefield in grasslands, mountainous areas, and deserts to temper troops' comprehensive capability in complex battle situations and under unfamiliar terrain conditions.
The reporter learned from the directing group of the exercise that the directing group will make full-range stochastic directing by focusing on electronic reconnaissance, electronic interference, information fraud, firepower deployment and air-ground collaboration. The "Directing Company" consisting of 120-plus non-commissioned officers (NCO) will collect exercise information from all directions. These NCO examiners will use the "exercise evaluation system" to evaluate capabilities of the troops in the operations of command and control, long-range maneuver, firepower attack, overall protection and comprehensive support.
According to Wang Weimin, deputy general director of the "Stride 2009 . Qingtongxia" exercise and commander of the combined tactics training base of the Shenyang MAC, the trans-military-area-command exercise will be held in completely strange regions and actual-war environments in which nearly 100 new training and battling modes and 150-plus newly-developed facilities for night and near-distance combats will be tested.
