Learn how to fight battles in exercise - Analysis of PLA training reform from military exercises in 2009
12:54 GMT, December 16, 2009 In retrospection of the things related to the Chinese armed forces in 2009, the high-frequency military exercises are a conspicuous highlight. Up to the present, authoritative media in China have given public coverage of a total of 18 large-sized actual-force military exercises participated in by the Chinese troops in 2009.
One of the most important reasons for the appearances of so many military exercises in 2009 is that, behind the military exercises, an exploration of organizing trainings under actual-war conditions according to the new Outline of Military Training and Evaluation is going on in the whole armed forces from the general headquarters/departments of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) down to battalions and companies, the basic combat unit of the PLA.
These military exercises serve as an explanation of the direction and new ideas of the military training reform of the PLA.
Regularized military exercise contributes to entrenchment of battle effectiveness
Is there any way to test the battle effectiveness and the level of military training of the troops in time of peace? It’s obvious the military exercise is the best choice. Maybe the year of 2009 has become an important year in the process of military exercise regularization of the PLA.
Most of the military exercises held in 2009 were designed to be “confrontational”, “test-oriented” and “research-oriented”.
“Both the performances of our weapons and combat capabilities of the troops can be tested through exercises,” said a responsible person with the Military Training and Arms Department of the General Staff Headquarters (GSH) of the PLA.
Under the proposition of the GSH, regularization of military exercise has become a common view in the PLA. The simulated combat facilities developed by the Shijiazhuang Army Command College of the PLA were distributed and equipped to the combined tactical training base of each military area command and the on-spot exercise assessment system also witnessed times of upgrading. All military area commands also set up a professional “Blue Army” as the “whetstone”.
In the “Victory 2009” actual-troop confrontation exercise, the “Red Army” and the “Blue Army” were acted respectively by an armored brigade and an infantry brigade. “I don’t think any of the brigade commanders wants to admit failure,” said a responsible officer with the Military Training and Arms Department of the Nanjing Military Area Command (MAC) of the PLA.
In “Firepower 2009” live-shell research-oriented exercise of artillery aerial defense force, 7 basic battling methods and 17 basic fighting methods of the artillery aerial defense force were tested in practice.
In the “Stride 2009” trans-MAC series military exercise which lasted for several months, more than 50,000 servicemen from 4 main divisions under 4 MACs and air force and army aviation units underwent the test of long-distance maneuver, complicated electromagnetic environment and all-domain combat ability in an all-round way.
In fact, such series of military exercises as the “Queshan” and “Iron Fist” exercises held by the Jinan MAC for several consecutive years have become an important way of the Jinan MAC to test the battle effectiveness of the troops.
Difficulties still remain and further exploration is going on
It goes without doubt that there are still many problems to be settled in the military training of the PLA.
Not every difficulty could be effectively and quickly removed in 2009, but the PLA didn’t dodge the difficulties in the military exercises. Instead, it keeps exploring and study all along.
Command system is the foremost difficulty to face
The concept of joint operation command was further tested and expounded by practice. In the “Vanguard 2009” military exercise, such contents as construction of joint operation command by PLA basic campaign army corps, operation mechanism, combat forms and support mode were tested and expounded for the first time. Besides the PLA Army and the PLA Air Force, troops from 11 arms also participated in the exercise.
By relying on the theater, the “Sharpening Sword 2009” military exercise was separately organized by each participating service and arm. During the exercise, the organizer studied the operation mechanism, organization form, methods and steps of joint training and support for joint training in a concentrated way, practiced and explored the methods for joint training.
In the “Joint Operation 2009” military exercise, the organizer further organized the training resources of the PLA Army, the PLA Navy, the PLA Air Force and the Second Artillery Force of the PLA, the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force and the local governments, blazing a joint training trail featuring the integration of three services and the military-civilian combination.
In the “Stride 2009” military exercise, seats were reserved for air force commanding officers and army aviation force commanding officers at the division-level combat posts.
Besides, the Chinese PLA troops are making exploration on command system and operation mode of the “combined battalion”. Combined training of such arms as infantry, artillery, armored force, chemical defense force, special operation force and even aviation force was organized within the framework of battalion. In the exercise, commander of the combined battalion could directly call the armed helicopter to launch air-ground fire strike.
Long-distance projection capability, especially strategic projection capability in the air, still remains a difficulty
To transport crack command organs and special operation units with military and civil aviation resources, organize motorized troops to rapidly advance by expressway, transport lightly-equipped troops stationed along the railway line by using high-speed railway and multiple units and convey heavily-equipped troops by railway maneuver mode has proved to be effective for long-distance projection of the PLA army troops based on the national conditions and equipment in hand. All the troop units have also intensified mission-oriented military skill training and the effort to sum up experience.
Several public reports showed that within one hour all the troop units could finish the task of unloading the combat vehicles of an armored regiment from the platform train and having the vehicles assembled together.
A motorized infantry regiment of the “Fierce Tiger” division under the Jinan Military Area Command created a new record of 916 km in motorized marching in a single day under operation background and the artillery regiment of the division also created a new record of 800-odd km in marching in a single day.
The “Airborne Maneuver 2009” was the biggest comprehensive trans-MAC maneuver exercise in the history of the Chinese PLA airborne force with implementing diversified tasks and adapting to large operation under information-based conditions as the background. More than 13,000 people, 1,500 vehicles and 7,000 sets of equipment of 3 divisions of an airborne corps maneuvered more than 2?000 km in various means and on various routes in the scope of Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. They assembled at the prearranged spots twice and carried out real-combat and live-shell exercises on various subjects under different terrain conditions.
The change of combat and training manner and fighting principle because of the change of equipment and technology still draws attention
According to an artillery expert, a position could be controlled only when it was fast held by the infantry in the past, so the price was very dear. But now, the position can be controlled within the coverage of artillery fire, changing the manpower control into firepower control. “In the past, we exercised how to use the infantry to seize and hold fast to the mountaintops, and now we exercise how to implement coverage of artillery fire and control,” the expert explained. This was also one of the purposes of the “Firepower 2009” exercise.
IT-based warfare and precise attack ability are highlighted in military exercises
Application of information technology (IT), complicated electromagnetic environment and precision attack are key words of almost every military exercise in 2009.
No matter the “Airborne Maneuver 2009” which was aimed to test paratroopers’ mobile capability, the “Vanguard 2009” to verify the joint training results of the land and air forces within the basic campaign corps, or the “Stride 2009” series trans-MAC exercises to test the all-domain combat capability of the PLA, each of the military exercises was held in the complicated electromagnetic environment.
Under IT-based conditions, the operational conception and combat modes are undergoing significant changes. Take the concealment and camouflage for an example, Ma Qiuxing, deputy chief of staff of the Jinan Military Area Command (MAC), told the PLA Daily reporters that apart from the traditional counter-reconnaissance measures to deal with the reconnaissance in near distance and electronic reconnaissance, IT-based anti-reconnaissance means to avoid the scanning of reconnaissance satellite or high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft were the most important things for the soldiers to learn in concealment and camouflage operations in the drill. The head of each combat squad must grasp the theory and methods of evading the “enemy” reconnaissance satellite. The battlefield situations like reconnaissance satellite passing overhead, radio interception by the “enemy”, and the UAV flying over the position were all included in the drilling subjects.
Under the direct guidance of the PLA General Staff Headquarters (GSH), the Guangzhou MAC held in mid October the “Firepower 2009” military exercise, which was aimed to study the precision strike of the artillery and aerial defense forces under IT-based conditions and explore new combat methods in an military operation featuring the integration of information and firepower of the artillery and aerial defense troops under IT-based conditions. This also indicated that the definition of precision strike of the PLA is extending from “pinpoint strike by precisely-guided weapons” to the “precision strike of the main battle arms of the land force”.
In the firepower confrontation phrase of the “Stride 2009.Luzhai” military exercise, the artillery troops of a division of the Jinan MAC test-fired multiple types of new cannon ammunitions, most of which were shells designed for precision strike, so as to offer reference data for the improvement of ammunition performance.
In the “Iron Cavalry 2009” combined battle-group actual-force exercise in mid November, an armored division of the Jinan MAC practiced the operations conducted by combined combat groups of mechanized troops under IT-based conditions
Transparency and openness are marked features of the military exercises
The military exercises in 2009 also have unprecedented openness. The Chinese military used to be confidential about the military exercises whereas now it takes the initiative to release relevant information.
First, the military transparency and openness is reflected in the fact that the exercises were open to foreign militaries. In the military exercises in 2009, the “Victory 2009” actual-troop confrontation exercise and “Vanguard 2009A” ground-and-air joint fire strike exercise belong to foreign-related exercises.
It is more than the case that the whole exercises were open to foreign military officers since the foreign military officers could also board the most advanced tanks and aircraft for near-distance observation and shooting. Some foreign military officers even boarded the new-type “Warrior” command vehicle to have a try of driving.
In the “Vanguard 2009 A” military exercise, students from 73 countries studying in the National Defense University (NDU) and the Air Force Command College and military observers from 3 countries viewed the whole exercise and held exchanges and discussions with Chinese servicemen.
Second, the military transparency and openness is reflected in multi-tiered media participation. In “Peace Mission 2009” Sino-Russian joint anti-terrorism military exercise, not only military attaches to China from various countries got the invitation from the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, dozens of reporters from China and Russia also got the permits to cover the whole exercise. Following the international practice, the Shenyang MAC released the exercise information on the site for many times, established the news center to receive journalists from home and abroad, and offered Internet, international dial and fax services to the journalists.
Chinese and Russian media, including those from Hong Kong, China, sent to the world the signal of mutual-trust and cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries with high efficiency.
The “Stride 2009” trans-MAC series of military exercises also drew a lot of attention from the meida in 2009. Media people were even allowed to attend some high-level conferences of the command.
The reports of the “Stride 2009” exercise were not confined to the information proper since such things as combat thought, combat mode and equipment buildup could also be covered. Peoples from all over the world could have a close observation of the peaceful rise of the Chinese military through the panoramic view of the exercise.
According to the statistics of the Xinhua News Agency, the general news on “Stride 2009” exercise was sometimes quoted by 200-plus domestic graphic media and 40-plus foreign media at the same time and the number of online clicks is kept high.
Third, the military transparency and openness is reflected in the fact that the Chinese military held 5 joint trainings and exercises with foreign militaries besides “Peace Mission 2009”.
The third Chinese naval escort taskforce and the Russian naval escort fleet which were implementing escort task in the waters off the Somali coast staged the “Peace Blue Shield 2009” joint exercise and joint maritime parade.
The Chinese medical detachment which was implementing the UN peacekeeping mission held the “Peace Angel 2009" China-Gabon joint humanitarian medical rescue operation with the Gabonese side. That was the first joint medical support exercise between the Chinese military and a foreign military, and also the first bilateral joint operation in Africa co-organized by the Chinese military and an African country.
In “Peace 09” multinational maritime joint exercise, navies from 12 countries including China, the U.S., the UK, France, Australia and Pakistan exercised search and rescue, anti-pirate actions, fleet defense and helicopter participation in the sea area near Karachi and that was the first official debut of the special operation troops of the Chinese PLA Navy at the international military stage.
Daring to make self-criticism gradually becomes a tradition of military exercise
In the “Queshan 2006” military exercise held in 2006, a division of the Jinan Military Area Command (MAC) dared to find out its weakness and thus it was praised by the media as “looking for a bone in an egg”.
Three years later, it is not strange to make profound self-criticism after a military exercise. And making self-criticism on problems exposed in the exercise becomes an important part at the post-exercise summary meeting.
After the “Stride 2009” series of exercises, 4 main participating divisions and the exercise directing department all devoted a good deal of space in their summary reports to sum up the problems found in the exercises.
The problems ranged from big problems like conservative and backward fighting principle and fatal defect of technological equipment to small problems like mistake in command of the striking link of a company and the prevention of beriberi.
In the exercise comments, the directing departments of some MACs used only 10 minutes to sum up their achievements, but spent 60 minutes to speak about the problems, making some related persons nervous and unease.
A staff officer of a participating troop unit used plain language in the radio communication and sent a short message to inquire the location of the basic command post of the division with military mobile phone. But this was monitored by the technological reconnaissance troop unit of the MAC. Finally, the contents of communication were displayed in public at the summary meeting, greatly shocking the participating troops.
The marching space between the troops of a participating division was too big on the way of long-distance maneuver and the head and the tail of the troops couldn’t coordinate. Seeing this situation, the exercise directing department immediately organized the “Blue Army” to implement harass and fought the “Red Army” in surprise, putting the “Red Army” in a most embarrassing predicament.
A commander didn’t found the trap designed by the directing department and made a wrong decision based on a wrong judgment of the battlefield situation, triggering his troops to be caught in the ambush. As a result, the commander was seriously criticized by the directing department.
Through repeated comments, overwhelming assault, upright image-sentinels and tank square couldn’t be seen any longer, but they were concealed in the grass. The atmosphere of actual war became stronger and stronger with the progress of the exercise.
All the troop units adopted an attitude of active rectification towards problems exposed in the exercises. A division of the Guangzhou MAC stayed at the exercise site after the exercise and didn’t return to its barracks until all exposed problems were well analyzed and tackled.
“Compared with summing up the experience, summing up lessons and mistakes is even more important. But this requires courage,” said a professor from the Shijiazhuang Army Command College of the PLA, “It is not shameful to make self-criticism.”
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