Ten breakthroughs of China's military diplomacy in 2014

(China Military Online) Updated: 2014-12-31 09:15

NO.4 Mechanized joint exercises were closer to real combat

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The "Peace Mission" and "Joint Maritime" exercises are systematic China-foreign joint exercises with substantial influence in recent years. When the "Joint Maritime 2014" joint exercise was carried out in the sea area and air space north of the East China Sea in May 20-26 this year, China and Russia assigned 14 surface vessels of various types, two conventional submarines, nine fix-wing aircraft, and forces including ship-borne helicopters and special operation units.

The "Peace Mission-2014" joint anti-terror exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held at the Zhurihe training base in September 24-29, 2014. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan assigned over 7,000 soldiers to the joint exercise.

Reason for listing: Compared with previous exercises, both joint exercises this year had new breakthroughs with notable progress in coordination and real-combat capacity.

During the "Joint Maritime 2014" exercise, China and Russia mixed up all of their participating vessels for the first time, organized the first beyond-visual-range (BVR) attack and defense drill with surface vessels serving each other, and organized the first back-to-back confrontation drill with submarines, vessels and airplanes serving each other. These "firsts" made the exercise much more difficult and highlighted the enhancement of core military capability.

Focused on exploring the new model of precise anti-terror operations, the "Peace Mission - 2014" joint exercise excelled previous ones in IT application and the level of information-based warfare. It was the first time that the Chinese military assigned reconnaissance-strike integrated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and female special operational members to participate in the SCO joint exercise.