China starts Unprecedented Military Exercise

[bobdina]

BEIJING - China's military on Aug. 11 launched its largest tactical military exercise, involving 50,000 heavily-armored troops in a long-distance deployment spanning thousands of kilometers, state press said.

The live-fire maneuvers, dubbed "Stride-2009," will involve a division each from the Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan and Guangzhou regional military commands and will last for two months, Xinhua news agency said.

"In the unprecedented exercise, one of the PLA's major objectives will be to improve its capacity of long-range projection," the report said, citing the general staff of the People's Liberation Army.

"Unlike previous annual tactical exercises, the army divisions and their air units will be deployed in unfamiliar areas far from their garrison training bases by civilian rail and air transport."

This means troops, tanks, vehicles and weapons systems from Shenyang in the northeast will be deployed to Lanzhou in the northwest, while similar exchanges will take place between Jinan in the east and Guangzhou in the south, it said.

According to the People's Liberation Army Daily, the exercises will simulate Chinese victories in the war against Japan (1937-45) and victories against U.S. troops during the Korean War (1950-53).

Following annual double-digit growth in defense spending over most of the last 20 years, China's rapidly modernizing military has kept pace with the nation's rising political and economic clout.

The United States, Japan and their allies have repeatedly expressed concern about China's military build-up and what they see as a lack of transparency about the intent behind the expansion.

With 2.3 million soldiers, the People's Liberation Army is the world's largest military.


http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4229262&c=ASI&s=LAN

[ghost]

Interesting. Now what about Logistics & Supply, and Force Projection? Based on many articles that I've read, they're really lacking in the logistics department. With logistics as tough as it already is, how are they going to keep up if they're lagging behind in it, in a fast paced modern conflict?

[Cruelbreed]

Modeling conflicts off supposed victories with the U.S. and Japan? Sends a signal for sure, but applying 60 year old+ victories isn't always the solution you'd think.

[Reactor-Axe-Man]

Ghost, I expect that the purpose of these exercises is to test logistics capabilities. There is also the possibility that this exercise has elements of regime internal security to it. Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan, and Guangzhou are very different regions culturally, ethnically, and economically. If, say, the folks in Guangzhou got uppity and wanted to secede and take Hong Kong and Macau with them, trusting regime forces from Guangzhou to put down the revolt might be problematic. Having more politically reliable troops from Jinan or Shenyang who have operated in the south before will be more effective than throwing them into an unknown situation.

[ghost]

Ghost, I expect that the purpose of these exercises is to test logistics capabilities. There is also the possibility that this exercise has elements of regime internal security to it. Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan, and Guangzhou are very different regions culturally, ethnically, and economically. If, say, the folks in Guangzhou got uppity and wanted to secede and take Hong Kong and Macau with them, trusting regime forces from Guangzhou to put down the revolt might be problematic. Having more politically reliable troops from Jinan or Shenyang who have operated in the south before will be more effective than throwing them into an unknown situation.


Ah, I see. Makes sense.