Recently in a training site in southwest China, several communication command vehicles and heavy artilleries were seriously damaged by the "enemy". In the smoke of gunpowder, field equipment repair group immediately began their work. Half an hour later, the broken-down equipment came to life again on the battlefield again. That was a pleasant change brought about by the independent equipment support system established by a frontier regiment in Guangxi. Starting from early November, the regiment itself can repair all its equipment, and its equipment support capacity has realized a leapfrog development. The General Armaments Department of the PLA has popularized the experience of the regiment throughout the armed forces.

　　The regiment, which scatters along a long line with little transport facilities, shoulders land frontier as well as coastal defense tasks. In the past, large equipment had to travel a long distance to large or medium inland cities for overhaul, as a result the maintenance cycle was long, and only a small portion of equipment could be available in the troops, which seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the troops. In view of the above-mentioned situation, the regiment worked hard to improve its independent support capacity and eventually established a frontier defense independent support system, which integrated "equipment command, equipment maintenance, equipment management". In addition, it has also made full advantage of achievements in command automation made in recent years to tackle key scientific problems with the cooperation of scientific research units and developed five software, including "equipment command application system", established weapons and equipment maintenance database, information database, equipment network office automation system and system to assist equipment decision-making. Backed by local technological resources, it organized militia technical support teams in transportation, communication and power supply sectors with the support of 13 local technical colleges and maintenance and repair plants. In this way, vehicles and communication equipment of the regiment can be repaired locally. Now it has realized the independent support goal, namely "to remove common malfunctions of equipment at the frontline and remove mechanical problems at the field position".　In addition, it has also established three-level emergency equipment warehouses at company, battalion and regiment levels, worked out or revised support measures for 16 new equipment wartime support measures and equipped with emergency equipment containers. It also introduced bar code system to ordinance depot management to ensure correct and swift distribution of equipment.

　　By Ji Tianxiang and Li Wenjing

　　(November 13, PLA Daily)