Beijing MAC conducts all-weather and actual-combat drill

The troops are in effective firing under extremely frigid weather conditions.

In late January, an artillery brigade and a motorized infantry regiment conducted an all-weather and actual-combat drill with all their troops and equipment under information-based conditions in the Zhurihe Training Base under the Beijing Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People s Liberation Army located on the plateau of the northern part of China s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in a bid to temper the capability of their troops in implementing combat tasks of 2011.

According to the previous training cycle, some of the fighting posts are understaffed at the turn of the year due to the demobilization of veterans and the lack of tactical foundation of recruits. To maintain its combat readiness at a high level and the capability in implementing combat tasks, the Beijing MAC took the winter training as the first major military activity of all the troop units of the MAC and chose the coldest period in the vast desert beyond the Great Wall to organize this actual-combat drill.

The drill explored the effective countermeasures on how to carry out long-range rapid maneuver in multiple ways, actual-troop and live-shell exercise, efficiency test of various firearms under frigid climate conditions, field survival of personnel and combat operations. Through the drill, the overall combat capability of the troops has been effectively tested under complex weather conditions and in unfamiliar areas and harsh environment.

By Zhang Kunping, Qin Zhaoping, Jin Xianbin and Xing Guanfang