It’s reported that a brigade of the 78th Group Army – an elite Chinese unit stationed near the China-Russian border – recently held a tank training. Although the 78th Group Army has been widely equipped with Type 99 main battle tanks, the pictures of this exercise are all Type 96 tanks.
According to military analysts, the 78th Group Army of China is currently the largest group army with the most mechanized vehicles, the best equipment quality, and the largest scale on the planet. This is due to its pre-set combat area – the 78th Army guarding Harbin, Heilongjiang, needs to deter Russia in the north, and deal with the Korean peninsula with the world’s densest armies in the south.
In the “Cross-2014 Zhurihe D” military exercise of China, a brigade from the 78th Group Army defeated the blue army brigade of the “Prairie Wolves” commanded by Brigadier Xia Minglong at the time, becoming the only brigade of 33 participating red units win at Zhurihe.