Source: Yangguang Military
From August 9 to August 13, the "Western United-2021" exercise was held at the Qingtongxia Contract Tactical Training Base of the Chinese Army. This exercise is the first Chinese and foreign training activity organized in China since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The exercise focused on jointly maintaining regional security and stability, and the Chinese and Russian militaries were mixed into groups, joint account planning, and joint operations. So, what are the new highlights of this exercise? And what kind of signal is transmitted? This is the topic to be focused on in this issue of the "One South Military Forum".
Infographic: Footage of the Western Union-2021 exercise
Moderator: The "Western United-2021" exercise has been attracting much attention since the beginning of the curtain. Through news reports, we saw many photos about the actual military action exercise stage of this exercise, a large number of modern equipment such as the J-20 appeared on the scene, ironclad combat vehicles galloped, and helicopter gunships were dropped by air, and a large-scale land-air joint real-force operation exercise was successfully carried out. It can be said that the exercise equipment is very eye-catching, the firepower is extremely dense, and many netizens are boiling with blood. Professor Yinan, you were invited to the scene to observe the exercise, can you share your feelings with us?
Jin Yinan: What impressed me most about the "Western United-2021" exercise is the ability of our military to launch strikes from multiple fields. In this exercise, the level of firepower was divided into at least seven to eight levels. From the weapons of infantry on the ground, to the weapons of tank armor, to the weapons of army aviation, to the long-range artillery, the strength of the army alone is divided into four levels. In addition, the firepower in the air, such as the firepower strike of the UAV on the ground, the fire strike of the J-7 fighter-bomber on the ground, and the fire strike of the bomber and so on. Both land and air firepower are divided into several levels, which fully demonstrates our army's current multi-domain strike capability and leaves a deep impression on people.
Now, we recall the time of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, when the Chinese Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai said a sentence: We are "one army fighting three armies.", our army only had army units at that time, while the US side had three armed forces, navy and air force. After more than 70 years, we are no longer in this precarious situation, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army has the ability to strike simultaneously in multiple areas.
What impressed me was also the precision strike capability that our military currently possesses. By precision strike capability, I don't just mean fire coverage and saturation attacks in the traditional sense. Of course, the amount of ammunition used in this exercise is also very large, and the saturation is also very high, but what is more exciting is precision strikes, including precision strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles, including the air precision strikes of the J-16. During the exercise, the missiles fired by our army from 70 kilometers away can accurately destroy the holes in the ground where terrorists are hiding. Moreover, the target of the strike is not predetermined, but is temporarily selected by the Russian Defense Minister Shoigu, which is to temporarily notify the air force after the target is selected on the spot, whether to hit the A target, B target, or C target. The precision strike force in the air should adjust the target positioning at any time according to the ground command. It was under such circumstances that our army accurately destroyed the A target selected by Russian Defense Minister Shoigu after 5 minutes.
From the exercises, we can see that there are many types of precision-guided munitions in our army, including anti-aircraft missiles, land anti-tank missiles, and so on, including aerial bombs guided by the Beidou system, and missiles guided by infrared guidance and radar guidance. It can be said that the appearance of our army has undergone very big changes today, and it has been significantly improved in terms of multi-domain strike capability and precision strike capability.
Host: Indeed, this exercise highlighted the achievements of national defense and army reform, tested the achievements of our army's military training and combat readiness, and not only reflected the substantial improvement of our army's weapons and equipment level, but also reflected the improvement of the combat efficiency of our army's system, and let us see the new way of fighting modern warfare.
Jin Yinan: According to my observation, this exercise has further highlighted the joint efforts of the Chinese and Russian armies. Now, the Chinese People's Liberation Army can not only achieve the campaign objectives independently, not only can its various services and arms fight jointly, but also has the ability to carry out joint operations with foreign forces. Someone once said in the past: If a person can turn the ability of others into his own, this person's ability is extraordinary. At present, the strength of our army comes not only from ourselves, but also from cooperation with our neighbors and from unity with our partners. I think this is another highlight of this exercise, and it is also a very meaningful attempt.
Moderator: "Joint" has always been the key word in the joint exercise between the Chinese and Russian armed forces. From 2005 to the present, in the past 16 years, the Chinese and Russian militaries have repeatedly held a series of joint exercises such as "peace mission" and "maritime joint" under bilateral and multilateral frameworks. Previously, it was mainly our military that went abroad to participate in the strategic exercise led by the Russian army, and the "Western United-2021" is the first time that the Russian army has participated in the Chinese-led strategic campaign exercise in an organized structure.
Jin Yinan: That's right. Sino-Russian joint exercises have been held many times before. Since 2018, our two countries have held a number of strategic campaign exercises in a row. For example, the "Central-2019" and "Caucasus-2020" exercises held in Russia, plus the "Western Union-2021". Compared to the previous ones, this exercise has undergone some changes. The first few times, we all went abroad to Russia to participate in the "Central-2019" and "Caucasus-2020" exercises, and our army mainly used Russian military equipment, and conducted exercises in accordance with the predetermined objectives and predetermined combat methods formulated by the Russian army, which is equivalent to cooperating with the Russian army to complete combat tasks. The "Western United-2021" exercise has undergone obvious changes, this time it is an exercise in China, and our army has changed from a subordinate to a dominant one.
The joint command commander of the exercise was Lieutenant General Liu Xiaowu, deputy commander of the Western Theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Lieutenant General Nosuriev, deputy commander of the Eastern Military Region of Russia, who served as the deputy commander of the joint command of the exercise. In addition, the joint exercise has changed from a single independent group and independent planning in the past to a mixed grouping and joint account planning between China and Russia; in the course of the previous exercise, each had its own command information system, the Chinese army had the system of the Chinese army, and the Russian army had the system of the Russian army. Under the special combat command information system between China and Russia, the Chinese and Russian armed forces have completed the coordination of land and air combat forces, unified the operational rules and agreements between the two sides, and established a unified combat system including the battlefield information and intelligence system.
This has fully tempered our command system, tempered the tolerance ability of our military's data links, and improved the command level of our army. This has opened up a lot of space for the Chinese military to carry out military operations in the future. It can be said that this exercise not only enhanced the ability of our army's combatants, but also greatly helped the improvement of the commander's ability. At the same time, during the exercise, the officers and men of russia's eastern military region also used the equipment of the Chinese army.
Moderator: My colleagues also participated in the live interview report of this exercise. He said that Lieutenant General Nosuriev, deputy commander of the Russian Eastern Military Region, personally operated the equipment of the Chinese side and used our armored assault vehicles to accurately hit the target, and said that the weapons and equipment of the Chinese army are very reliable. Moreover, the officers and men of the Russian army participating in the exercise were also very quick to get started with our weapons and equipment. This also shows from one side the high level of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in the new era. If China and Russia are required to join forces to deal with threats in the future, they are fully capable of defending peace on the battlefield.
Jin Yinan: This is an important "by-product" of this exercise. I saw a big sign at the exercise site that read, "China and Russia join hands to build peace." This sentence actually shows the great political significance of this exercise. During the exercise, Russian officers and soldiers made extensive use of Chinese weapon systems. The weapons and equipment of our army, whether it is the tactical performance of the campaign or the practicality, the Russian officers and men have given praise. The Russian equipment system is inherited from the Soviet Union, the Russian army is a strong combat force in the history of the world, and if we can cooperate with a strong hand, then we can become stronger.
"China and Russia join hands to build peace together" is not only today that we have joined hands to build peace together, sino-Russian cooperation has a historical tradition. When we crossed the Yalu River in 1950, we Chinese the Vast Number of Officers and Men of the Volunteer Army fought bloodily in the Korean battlefield, and on the other hand, we also received great assistance from the Soviet Union. In that year, the Soviet Union assisted us with a large number of army equipment and air force equipment.
Let us not forget that the Chinese army that embarked on the Korean battlefield at that time was still an army with millet and rifles, and at the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese army had basically become a modern army with a complete range of arms and services, such as air force, army, armored troops, tank troops, signal troops, and anti-chemical warfare troops. The reason why we were able to do this back then was inseparable from the massive assistance of the Soviet Union. At that time, the Soviet Union assisted us with a large amount of army equipment and air force equipment, which enabled our army to rapidly modernize. In the past, it was Sino-Soviet cooperation, today it is Sino-Russian cooperation, and our two countries jointly safeguard regional peace are by no means the beginning of today.
Host: As responsible major countries, China and Russia have been working together to build a more just and rational new international order. Through this exercise, China and Russia demonstrated to the world the determination and ability of the two countries to continue to be defenders and defenders of regional security and stability, and also sent a powerful deterrent message to those terrorist forces waiting for opportunities to create terrorist incidents and disrupt regional stability and their supporters behind them.
Jin Yinan: Right. The good situation of Sino-Russian cooperation is by no means just something that suddenly appeared today. In fact, we have had good, successful cooperation in the past. Now, through joint exercises by the armed forces, our two countries have laid a firmer foundation for cooperation and achieved deeper cooperation under new conditions. Cooperation in such an exercise is completely different from the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in the 1950s. What are the scientific and technological means used by the militaries of our two countries this time? It is a satellite in space, an early warning aircraft in the air, a large number of reconnaissance drones, and a variety of reconnaissance platforms. It can be said that it is the effective integration and cooperation of land and air that has launched a three-dimensional military operation from space to the ground. In the next step, the Chinese and Russian navies will hold joint military exercises. I believe that this effective coordination between China and Russia on land and air has truly demonstrated to the world the ability of two countries to join hands to maintain regional peace, and the Chinese and Russian militaries are no longer fighting alone. We in China often say that we must maintain regional peace; Russia has also said many times that it is necessary to maintain regional peace. I believe that "China and Russia join hands to build peace together" will be a new field and a new ability to strive for peace. (Zhou Yuting)
(Source: CCTV)