By Chen Lufan, Wang Xinjuan and Lin Siji
The Field Training Exercise of ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Experts’ Working Group on Counter-Terrorism is held in Guilin, China from November 9 to 22, which has been scheduled in three stages: China-Thailand pre-training, multi-country intensive training and live-fire joint military exercise. Recently, it has entered the second, aka, the multi-country intensive training phase.
The Counter-terrorism Task Group (CTTG), consisting of officers and soldiers from various countries, stepped up training in “simulated urban” scenarios taking a combat team as an unit, with a view to completing counter-terrorism operations in different situations.
Air commando fast-roping from helicopters
A helicopter is spiraling along from a distant mountain range and hovering over the "theatre" controlled by the terrorists. A commando quickly abseils on the top of the "theatre" and enters the sniper alert position,followed by several commandos abseiling to creep into the "theatre" afterwards... This is the air commando in the helicopter abseiling training, simulating the integrated rescue and strike missions in urban counter-terrorism.
According to Wang Chonghuan, captain of the first airborne team of the air commando, the air commando is mainly responsible for cooperating with the special commando on the ground to quickly rescue hostage and conduct integrated strikes in the joint counter-terrorism exercise. The air commando personnel are dominated by the officers and soldiers from both China and Thailand, together with some Cambodian personnel. The difficulties in helicopter abseiling training include the higher requirements for coordination with other commandos, and the accurate timing and location for abseiling.
When asked about the current degree of running-in between the Chinese and Thai participants, Captain Wang said that so far, officers and soldiers from the two sides have coordinated well , which is evident in quick tactical running-in and multiple exchanges after training. They have got along very well. China and Thailand have many things in common, and share similar ideals. The joint exercise just provides an opportunity for the two sides to learn from each other.
Sniper team engaged in intensive training
At a training range located at the foot of Qifeng Mountain towering like swords in Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, the sniper team of the CTTG, a force composed of preeminent personnel from eight countries, is conducting intensive training.
"Three, two, one, da!" With the captain's order, the snipers set out to fire one by one. "The shooting order sent in mixed Chinese-English languages is set after the continuous running-in during the past few days. The participants of other countries can't understand Chinese, while the English pronunciation of ‘fire' is not so straight forward as Chinese counterpart ‘da’". Sun Zhaohui, deputy captain of the sniper team and commander of a special commando company ina special commando brigade under the PLA 75th Group Army, told reporters after the training.
It is reported that the joint exercise is themed on urban counter-terrorism, and divided into three stages: pre-training, multi-country intensive training and live-fire joint exercise. It is organized around such subjects as special rescue, stronghold seizing and targeted killing. The equipment and weapons used in sniper training and the exercise are supplied by China.
"The foreign snipers involved in the training highly regard the capabilities of light weapons made in China, which has made Chinese participants feel quite proud", said Company Commander Sun Zhaohui, smiling with shyness.
He also introduced that sniping subject involves personnel, equipment, weapons and disguise in positions, as well as experience shooting and command shooting. In the live-fire joint exercise, the sniper team will enter the rescue site in coordination with the ground and air commandos to provide fire support in due time.