The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) concluded its first military exercise involving long-range maneuvers on Thursday morning with a "combat" exercise deep in the grasslands of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The "Red Army", a mechanized infantry brigade from the Shenyang Military Area Command that had trekked more than 1,000 kilometers to the combat area, launched a fierce attack on the positions of the "Blue Army" - an armored brigade from the Beijing Military Area Command.

Combat vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled artillery and infantry fighting vehicles, moved quickly through the smoke on the combat field. Anti-jamming operations were conducted to nullify the effect of electromagnetic jamming; attacks on computer networks were met by computer defense networks; shells launched by a range of artillery crisscrossed in the sky.

The tank units from both sides then engaged in "battle" using laser imitation systems.

The exercise, which began on Sept. 5 in the garrison area of a mechanized infantry brigade in northeast China's Liaoning province, comprised four stages, namely emergency battle preparation, long-range maneuvers, operational preparation and combat.

More than 3,000 troops of the infantry brigade and hundreds of sets of equipment were transported to the target area by railway and motorized maneuvers.

Along its route, the infantry brigade had to cope with satellite reconnaissance, electromagnetic jamming and surprise biochemical attacks. They were trained in techniques required in an information-based war scenario and also had to negotiate unfamiliar terrain and a snowstorm before arriving at the target area on time.

In the combat stage, the opposing forces explored new methods of training mechanized troops, combat tactics, pooling training resources, optimizing the organization of combat forces and shortening the period of formation of combat forces.

Chinese military experts invited to direct and assess the exercise said the exercise had blazed a trail for cross-region long-range training maneuvers by Chinese ground troops. It's a good try in making the transition from mechanization-based military exercise to information-based military exercise.

The experts assessed five capacities of the mechanized infantry brigade, namely command, long-range maneuvers, attack, integral protection and comprehensive logistics.

They said the exercise has been designed completely in keeping with the requirements of actual combat, with contest under strong electromagnetism conditions running through the entire exercise. The exercise has set an example for the Chinese army to shift its base from mechanization to information and enhancing its combat capability in information-based situations.

Editor:Yan