By Hu Zheng
KASHI, Oct. 8 -- In late September, service members assigned to a border defense regiment of the Kashi Military Sub-command under the PLA Xinjiang Military Command flew to a plateau border defense area at an elevation of more than 5,600 meters to perform patrol missions on the helicopter.
Most border troops of the Kashi Military Sub-command are located in life-restricted zones, where the vehicles have no access to. Under complicated weather conditions, many defense areas were used to be no-fly zones for helicopters. To realize airspace control in the region under their defense, the military sub-command teamed up with an army aviation brigade to challenge the harsh conditions.
They carried out joint air patrol drills many times, practiced takeoff and landing at high-altitude duty posts, honed the pilots' capability to deal with special situations and successfully opened up more than ten border patrol air routes on the plateau, which effectively improved their plateau border patrol efficiency.
At the same time, they formulated a batch of joint patrol courses, and carried out regular realistic combat drills on subjects of key point seizure and control, accompanying cover, troops delivery, etc.
According to a leader of the military sub-command, they will develop a more complete border management and control system in the near future.