The International Army Games 2016 will be held in Russia and Kazakhstan from July 30 to August 13. At the invitation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, China will send a delegation to participate in 22 competitions.
According to sources from the Training and Administration Department of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), the delegation consists of more than 1,000 officers and soldiers from 22 troops (units) from the Army, Navy and Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Among them, 16 Chinese teams will bring their own weapons for the competition.
This year’s competition has 23 subjects including Tank Biathlon, Suvorov Attack, Clear Sky, Aviadarts, Sea Cup and Keys to the Sky, and the number almost doubled compared with that of last year.
These competitions cover armor, artillery, air defense, reconnaissance, engineering, chemical warfare, special warfare, aviation, airborne and other professional operations, as well as repair, cooking, health service and other support areas. So far, more than 20 countries have confirmed to participate.
What is new this year is that six teams of the Chinese military delegation will use weapons and equipment provided by the organizers to compete against their counterparts from other countries in subjects such as Masters of Artillery Fire, Sniper Frontier, Elbrus Ring, Open Water, True Friend and Keys to the Sky.
Chinese military personnel and equipment will conduct transnational delivery by rail, air and sea. Army equipment and supplies in four train echelons left from Manzhouli city, north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on July 9 for competition areas in 15 states in Russia, and they are scheduled to arrive before July 23.
Fighter jets of the PLA Air Force participating in the Aviadarts subject will leave from an airport in Urumqi, capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, for the Turlatovo Airport in Ryazanskaya Oblast, Russia.
A frigate from the 23rd escort taskforce of the PLA Navy will set sail directly from the Gulf of Aden to Black Sea near Novorossiysk, Russia for the Sea Cup competition.
The main purpose of participating in the International Army Games 2016 is to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia, learn useful experience from foreign militaries, showcase excellent quality and good image of the Chinese military, improve combat training and military weapons and equipment construction, and promote military readiness under the new situation.