Beijing, Moscow hail military ties (2)

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Colonel General Nikolai Bordanovskiy, chief commander of Russia's Central Military District, who has participated in several drills with China, said the two sides' integrated work in battle planning and commanding has brought their collaboration to a new level.

It was the first time that forces from both sides' regional military area commands planned a joint drill together. Previous drills were led by the two countries' military headquarters.

The Shenyang military area command of the PLA and Russian Central Military District sent about 1,500 soldiers and 250 pieces of military equipment to the drill, including Chinese Mi-171 and Z-9 helicopters, and Russian Su-24MR front-line bombers and Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters.

During the hourlong simulated battle, mixed units from both sides' air forces, artillery divisions, armored tank forces and special forces defeated "terrorists". It is the first time that special forces from both sides have used the same aircraft during "combat".

"It was a challenge for us to carry out drills abroad for the first time, but we have overcome difficulties one by one, and we have found ways to improve combat capabilities and to better train the forces," said Major General Pan Liangshi, an army commander from the Shenyang military area command.

Although they speak different languages, the two militaries have worked out a set of rules to facilitate communication by using gestures with military signals, he said.

"We also managed to carry out troop deployment under combat scenarios for the first time to increase efficiency and improve war planning of the two forces in dealing with emergencies," he said.

It took 646 Chinese soldiers one week to complete troop deployment by air and rail.

Chinese helicopters, accompanied by Russian Mi-8 military helicopters, provided logistical support for the drill and stopped eight times before reaching the designated Chebarkul military range, Russian media said.

Li Shuyin, a researcher of Central Asian and Russian military studies at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, said the level of joint drills between China and Russia has been quite high while they seek a breakthrough every time to match the ever-improving bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

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