According to reports, the Sino-Russian “Zapad/Interaction-2021” exercise entered the final stage on August 13, that is, the actual military exercise stage.
At the Qingtongxia combined-arms tactical training base in Ningxia, the Chinese and Russian armed forces put together more than 10,000 personnel, more than 200 armored equipment (sets), and more than 100 aircraft. The fire assault and enemy annihilation exercises were conducted on a 48 square kilometer exercise field.
At the beginning of the exercise, four J-20 fighters “kicked the door,” followed by J-16 and JH-7 fighters, carrying out air strikes on the “enemy” forward command post and air observation post. Then the ground artillery group launched a salvo, covering and blocking the target with precise artillery fire.
The armored assault group formed by the joint forces of China and Russia on the ground attacked side by side, split and combined attacks, and used intensive firepower to strike “enemy” armor, bunkers and infantry targets. The army aviation’s armed helicopter combat group entered at an ultra-low altitude and carried out a combined air artillery assault. The armed helicopters flew close to the ground and Y-20 droped heavy equipment. The long-range rocket fire volleyed, shaking the sky and earth. Special forces descended from the sky. And anti-aircraft missiles pierced the sky.
At the same time, the Sino-Russian air force joint formation consisting of the J-11B, J-16, and Su-30CM fighters launched wave-style joint air strikes. In addition, the Chinese military’s inspection and combat drones and drone swarms conducted air-to-ground strikes. The air defense group’s HQ-16 and HQ-17 missiles fired salvos to intercept the enemy drone swarm.
The new weapons and equipment put in this exercise accounted for 81.6%. During the first fire assault, the aviation, army aviation, ground armored forces and artillery carried out operations within a range of 6 kilometers in front and 7 kilometers in depth, with the exercise forces dropping 265 tons of ammunition in 45 minutes, with an average fire density of 228 rounds per minute and a peak fire rate of 364 rounds per minute.