In late October, a combined tactics-training base in the Chengdu Military Area Command organized a motorized infantry division to conduct a counterattack exercise in frigid mountainous regions under modern war conditions to assess the combat power of troops and achieved satisfactory results. The exercise has realized the shift from assessment by experience to assessment by data.

　　For the above-mentioned confrontation exercise, the training base added new contents to the exercise in light with the requirement of actual combat, such as information warfare, electronic warfare, network warfare and psychological warfare. The confrontation exercise was conducted with real troops and military equipment to assess overall combat capabilities of troops in information acquisition and transmission, and information handling, and the exercise achieved satisfactory results. In the exercise, the base employed modern scientific means to simulate the deployment area, command post, communication hub and air targets of the Blue Army and with which to build up a simulated 3D information warfare environment; created a electronic warfare environment with army aviation, communication and electronic countermeasures. They also connected the current wireless network of the base with computer network system of the troops to send e-mail and distribute leaflets so as to build up a thick psychological warfare environment. Under real combat conditions, the troops conducted fierce confrontation exercise from the beginning to the end, which included reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, air raid and anti-air raid, airborne and anti-airborne operation, etc. Through the exercise, the combat capabilities of the troops were upgraded, and in the process the combat capability of troops were also assessed.

　　The base also revised and perfected the assessment standards and methods. Now it uses the information acquisition rate, the rate of troops' arrival at the designated place on time, hitting accuracy of firearms and the command and control capability of commander, etc as the principal assessment indicators. By doing so the base has made the assessment work more scientific and reliable.

　　By Ren Jinxi and Guo Xiaoqiang

　　(November 6, PLA Daily)