In early November, a division of the Chengdu Military Area Command conducted information warfare counter exercise in deep mountains with another military unit. A range of new weapons equipped with advanced information technology were used in the counter exercise. In the exercise, the two sides (the "Red Army" and the "Blue Army") launched cyber offense and defense, electronic confrontation and fire strikes against each other.

　　The exercise was conducted to simulate real war. There were no preplans and no preliminary rehearsals. Only specific tasks were set for the two sides. The division sent tens of thousands of troops deep into the Daliang Mountain, Sichuan Province. On reaching their destination, the "Blue Army" consisting of electronic confrontation units, special reconnaissance units and communication units first started its "soft" attacks with "electronic packages" built into attacking programs on the commanding systems of the "Red Army". The "Red Army" then set up "fire-protective walls" and isolation strips to defend itself while counterattacking the network of the "Blue Army".

　　The "Red Army" "suffered" a great deal in the exercise. First, its command and control center was attacked by "enemy" hackers causing the automatic command system paralyzed for a while. Later, the electromagnetic attacks interrupted the communication of the "Red Army" for several minutes.

　　Commanders of the division commented after the exercise that it suffered some "defeats" and it now knew what to do next to improve its fighting capability. So long as lessons were learned earnestly, the division would be able to win in real war, they added.

　　By Zheng Xin and Chen Banghe

　　(November 27, PLA Daily)