PLA troops hold high-altitude exercises in Tibet

Arun Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jammu, June 3

Media reports emanating from China have indicated that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops have been holding night-time high-altitude exercises in the Tibetan plateau.

Global Times that reflects Chinese official viewpoint and policy wrote in today’s edition revealing that these exercises were held recently and broadcast by CCTV on Monday. The report’s opening paragraph summed up the plans of the People’s Liberation Army.

It read: “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Command recently sent troops to a high-altitude region at an elevation of 4,700 metres at night for infiltration exercises behind enemy lines and tested their combat capability under a harsh environment.”

“At 1 am at an undisclosed date, a PLA scout unit began to mobilise toward its target in the Tanggula mountains”. The Tanggula mountain range is adjacent to the Changthang region of Ladakh rich with lakes.

The newspaper gave the graphic details of the exercises and the techniques it used. The PLA also used drones.

They engaged in combat when approaching the target, for which they sent a sniper unit to crack enemy spotlights and a fire strike team to destroy enemy light armoured vehicles with anti-tank rockets.

After neutralising the defences, the scout unit successfully launched the final assault on the enemy headquarters, in which commanders used a vehicle-mounted infrared reconnaissance system and guided the troops to lock in on targets and deliver fire strikes.

“More than 2,000 munitions, including mortar shells, rifle grenades and rockets were fired during the mock battle, Ma Qian, commander of the scout battalion involved in the drills, told CCTV,” according to the newspaper.