Sino-Russian military exercises, the Chinese army will become an important force deployed in the center of the battle
September 12, 2018, 09:16
Sina Military
0
On September 11, the long-awaited Russian "Oriental-2018" strategic exercise officially kicked off. Nearly 300,000 Russian troops, tens of thousands of tank-and-armored vehicles, thousands of combat aircraft and drones, and nearly 80 surface ships participated in the exercise. The exercise was held at five synthetic shooting ranges, four air defense targets, and the Sea of Japan, Bering Sea and Okhotsk waters, including the Eastern Military Region, the Central Military Region, and the Northern Fleet, as well as airborne troops, long-range aviation, and military transportation. Strategic forces such as aviation are all added.
▲ Nearly one-third of the Russian army has joined this large-scale exercise.
Different from previous years, during the exercise, the Chinese People's Liberation Army also participated in the exercise as an important combat force. According to reports from the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, the Chinese side has a force of about 3,200 troops, more than 1,000 vehicles of various types, and 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. What constitutes the PLA's combat troops and what role it will play in the exercise is, to some extent, beyond the existence of the exercise itself.
▲ Entering the PLA's participating troops in Russia
Small-scale military structure
As the most part of our military's participation in military exercises, the 3,200 people are roughly equivalent to the traditional regiments. However, in this exercise, the participating troops are not a certain formed brigade, but in the group army. A combat force formed by the troops.
▲ According to domestic standards, 3,200 people are not even smaller than a synthetic brigade.
According to the current report, the PLA Army units participating in the exercise mainly came from the 78th Army of the Army. The ground assault troops are mainly two battalions: one is a synthetic battalion from a heavy synthetic brigade, mainly equipped with a 99-type main battle tank and a 86-type infantry fighting vehicle; the other is a synthetic battalion from a medium-sized synthetic brigade, mainly equipped 11 wheeled tanks and 08 infantry fighting vehicles. More than 100 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in these two battalions will undoubtedly be the role of the Chinese participating troops in the next few days. Of course, according to the establishment of our military synthetic battalion, the relevant battalion is other equipment, including the 122mm self-propelled howitzer of the battalion, the armored command vehicle of the battalion and all kinds of equipment of the logistics force. .
▲ 99-type main battle tank and 86-type infantry fighting vehicle equipped with heavy-duty synthetic battalion
▲ 11-type wheeled tank of medium-sized synthetic brigade equipment, 08-type infantry fighting vehicle and 09-type 122 mm self-propelled cannon
In addition to the two combat battalions, the troops including the Group Military Chemical Brigade, the Army Air Travel Brigade and the Special War Brigade also reported that they participated in the exercise. Among them, the Luhang Brigade has 24 helicopters (straight--9WA and Mi-17) helicopters (each with a helicopter brigade) to participate in the Russian performance, and the corresponding logistics support and security forces are naturally essential. In the report of the military newspaper, our army has a hot food guarantee from the logistics unit in the camp area every day between the exercises, and the Russian army on the road in the exercise area relies on the "support" of our army to avoid eating individual soldiers. The fate of the rations shows that the security work of our military participating troops is still good.
▲ Our military straight -9WA, Zhi-19 and Mi-17 helicopters participated in the exercise
In addition, in the news reports released by our military, there are also 11-type 122 mm box-type rocket launchers. These equipments are usually attached to the artillery battalion of the synthetic brigade in units of units, and appear together with the synthetic battalion. In Russia, it means that the two synthetic battalions may have to play the role of a larger level of brigade-level units in this exercise.
▲ 11 rocket launchers and other service vehicles participating in the exercise
This speculation was also confirmed at the press conference of the "Oriental-2018" exercise held by the Russian Defense Ministry last week. At the press conference, the Russian military demonstrated the "Oriental-2018" exercise at the Chugor training ground. In the map, it is possible to recognize that the main components of the Chinese military are the two "Chinese People's Liberation Army Brigade", and the superior commanding organs of these two brigades and the military and special operations are strengthened. The detachment, although the Chinese participating troops have only 3,200 people, they already have almost all the structures of the group's military level.
▲ Part of the exercise map issued by the Russian Ministry of National Defense shows that the Russian “NOAK” represents the People’s Liberation Army, and the two units in the four units are located in the north.
Central deployment full participation
Compared with the scale of the participation of nearly 300,000 Russian troops, the PLA’s 3,200 people only have about one percent of the total. It is precisely because of this that the PLA’s participation in the Russian military will not become a pure “supporting role”. The topic that everyone cares about. However, the number of Russian military exercises includes the total number of participating troops in all parts of Russia and the number of combat troops mobilized during the operational readiness. In the specific combat exercises, the number of participating troops is far from so much.
▲ The Russian Defense Ministry’s press conference shows that nearly 300,000 Russian troops are actually distributed throughout Russia.
According to the current disclosure, our military mainly participated in the actual combat confrontation exercise conducted at the Chugor training ground. This is also the key exercise of the "Oriental-2018" strategic exercise. Although in the exercise interview of our army, the situation map about this exercise was mosaiced as a military secret, the Russian Ministry of Defense press conference announced a relatively complete situation, from which we can also understand this. The scale and approximate process of key drills.
▲ The deputy chief of staff of the 78th Army, interviewed, can see that the map behind him is blurred.
▲ Walkthrough map released at the Russian press conference
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, there are at least 25,000 Russian troops participating in the exercise at the Zorgor training ground, more than 7,000 weapons of various types, and about 250 aircraft and helicopters. These units, together with the PLA and Mongolian forces, formed the red and blue forces of the exercise: the Blue Army was played by the 2nd Army and the 41st Army of the Central Military Region of Russia, while the Red Army was the 29th Army and the 35th Army of the Eastern Military Region. The 36th Army and the PLA and the Mongolian Army. In this way, in fact, there are only a few thousand people in each of the Russian army groups participating in the show. It is not difficult to see that these group army should also be similar to the PLA, and after retaining the structure of the group army, The level of combat units (and possibly the battalion level units for reinforcement) is used to simulate the combat operations of the brigade-level units.
▲ The northwest direction of the map is the Blue Army. The blue thick line in the middle is the action boundary of the two group armies. The southeast direction is the Red Army, and the red thick line is the action boundary between the group army.
From the map of Russia, the exercise should be based on the Blue Army’s attack on the east as the beginning of the exercise. The offensive Blues (2nd Army and 41st Army) suffered resistance from the Red Army (the 29th Army and the 35th Army). After the rear reinforcements (1 liberation army) blocked the defense, the Red Army strengthened the rear reserve team (the 36th Army and a liberation army), launched a counterattack from the middle of the battlefield, and at the same time in the blue After the army, the aircraft and the parachute were launched, and the Blues were finally defeated.
▲ The PLA Forces and the Russian 36th Army, located behind the center of the battle line, are both reinforcements in the defense phase and reserve forces in the counterattack phase.
At the beginning of the exercise, the two brigades of the People’s Liberation Army were together with the 36th Army as a reserve team behind the center of the battle line. Then in the defense phase, one of the brigades moved forward into the defensive operations, and the other brigade and the 36th Army The main force launched counterattack operations from the center of the battle line during the counterattack phase. That is to say, the
PLA troops must not only participate in the exercise at the Chugor training ground, but also be deployed as the "mainstay" of the Red Army in the center of the battle line. They not only undertake the key reinforcements of defensive operations, but also participate in the implementation of counterattacks.
▲ According to the speculation, the PLA units equipped with Type 99 tanks and Type 86 infantry fighting vehicles may have to “fill the audience”
This position and role of "having a positive face to the audience" is naturally one of the protagonists.
▲ The PLA Panthers will also help in the exercise
"Oriental-2018" outside of Chugor
For China, paying attention to the Chugor training ground, it pays attention to the vast majority of the PLA’s performance in the “Oriental-2018” exercise. For military observers, the Zorgol training ground is actually observing the contract between the Chinese and Russian armed forces. The operational level is an important observation point of the level of cooperation between the two militaries, but many other rehearsal actions are important opportunities to observe the state of the Russian army today.
▲ In the information given by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the tanks are advanced equipment such as the T-72B3.
For example, in the preparatory stage of the "Oriental-2018" strategic exercise, netizens including Volgograd, Surgut, Irkutsk and other regions have reflected that many of them have been found in the army of the eastward maneuver. The Soviet-made T-62 tank. Among these tanks, there are not so backward, and the old-fashioned armored T-62MV, but also the T-62M, which is obviously backward, even the reaction armor.
▲ The T-62MV and T-62M last appeared in the Russian army and may be traced back to the 2008 Russian war.
For Russia, which used the T-72 as "common equipment" as early as the Soviet era, the emergence of so many T-62s is a big strange thing, but considering the exercise, the Russian army in the Far East Federal District 10 federations The main body mobilized thousands of reservists to form 21 units for the wartime to alert important targets. These “prepared” units used old tanks that were already in stock, and also reflected the Russian army’s supplement in extreme cases. ability. Judging from the smooth formation of these tanks and troops, the work of the Russian army in this field is obviously not too bad.
▲ When the T-62 also needs to be mobilized, there is a tank that is a kind of combat power.
However, other situations may not be so optimistic. For example, a photo taken in Ulan-Ude shows that the T-72 tank unit belonging to the 5th Tank Brigade of the local 36th Army is actually equipped with a variety of equipments, ranging from the less advanced T-72BM to many more. The backward T-72BV, as for the Russian military's elite T-90 or T-72B3 main battle tanks, is not one.
▲ Ulan-Ude's 5th Tank Brigade, the model of the T-72 tank is not uniform
Although the threat situation in the Far East is not high, it is reasonable for the Russian military not to take care of them when they change tanks and armored vehicles. However, it is clear that the Russian military’s own "the new generation of weapons in 2020 has reached 100%" is a rhetoric. It is very likely that there is no way to cash in as easily as possible.
▲ The Russian army with new equipment is still common in the west, but it is rare in the Far East.
It is necessary to maintain sufficient scale and certain combat capability, and not have sufficient funds and capabilities to provide new weapons and equipment. This may be an important issue that the Russian military has to face and solve in a series of strategic exercises. (Author's signature: Hu Wei Shi)
