By Sun Xingwei and Liu Jianhui
BEIJING, April 13 -- Four new-type combat rations independently developed by the Chinese military are being tried out in troops stationed on plateaus, and the oxygen saturation of the soldiers has got improved as a result.
According to a responsible officer of the military materials and energy bureau, the Logistic Support Department under the Central Military Commission (CMC), the four new-type combat rations are high-energy food, normal energy food, low-fat light food, and special food respectively.
To meet the challenge of the complex battlefield conditions of modern warfare, the fast-food mode support of combat rations requires delivery, cooking, distributing, eating and cleaning of the field rations be completed in a short time, which is backed by standardized recipe, scale production, ready-to-eat food supply, cold chain storage, convenient cooking, and precise distribution.
For this purpose, new ingredients and new technologies have been introduced to produce more sorts of combat rations with improved functions and quality. Region-targeted food made of ingredients with the electrolyte replacement, anti-hypoxia or anti-fatigue functions have been developed to meet the special needs of troops stationed in hot, cold and plateau regions. Highland barley and other cold-resistant ingredients are used in the R&D of the “personal combat rations” to help improve hunger resistance of soldiers in military operations. In addition, some self-heating combat rations are suitable for eating under severe cold conditions or at an elevation of more than 3,000 meters.
As planned, canned food, energy bars, dehydrated vegetables and freeze-dried soup will be incorporated into the food supply system for the plateau troops, so as to upgrade the quality of food supplies in an all-round manner and meet the needs of troops for combat rations supply in different regions.