At the start of the new year, Chinese armed forces across multiple services and commands have intensified combat-oriented training, with exercises highlighting joint operations, unmanned systems, and realistic battlefield conditions. Troops in the Nansha Islands conducted multi-subject drills to enhance island-and-reef coordinated capabilities. Other units, including the Eastern Theater Command, focused on combat readiness to ensure they can fight and win when called upon.
Chinese armed forces have stepped up combat-oriented training at the start of the new year, focusing on joint operations, unmanned systems, and realistic battlefield conditions across multiple services and commands.
Troops stationed in the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea conducted multi-subject, combat-focused drills, according to a news release from the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command on Sunday. The training emphasized multi-domain coordination and joint combat effectiveness to further enhance island-and-reef coordinated operational capabilities.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command also released a series of photos on Sunday showing its troops training in the new year, stating that soldiers are throwing themselves into training and combat preparedness "in a combat-ready state" to ensure "they can fight and win when called upon".
The military's Rocket Force released footage on its social media account depicting a missile launch simulation exercise at a field training ground. The video showed missile vehicles quickly moving to a designated combat position, where operators rapidly deployed equipment, established networks and links, and carried out precise operations as the system entered the launch procedure. A security and protection team conducted intensive perimeter searches and alerts using technologies such as drones and robot dogs to build three-dimensional and full-coverage vigilance, ensuring area security.
Meanwhile, the PLA Ground Force has focused on drone operations during its new year training, as reported by China Media Group. In a field exercise by the PLA 79th Group Army, light drones repeatedly penetrated simulated enemy positions to conduct bombing runs, create smoke screens, and guide infantry assaults. Liu Wenyu, a soldier from a brigade under the group army, was quoted as saying, "on today's battlefield, drones have evolved from a single reconnaissance tool into a highly specialized tactical system." The troops also explored the battlefield use of quadruped robots and First-Person View suicide drones in integrated combat training.
The PLA Navy conducted combat-oriented drills at a military port in Qingdao, involving multiple types of destroyers and frigates, including the CNS Nanchang, CNS Xining, and CNS Weifang. Training scenarios included ship handling and weapons use under complex weather conditions, as well as naval gunfire drills targeting sea and shore. The drills also featured live firing of anti-frogman munitions.
These exercises underscore China's military emphasis on integration of advanced technologies and joint capabilities to meet contemporary warfare demands.