On January 9, an exercise to showcase the achievements in logistics command automation and technical transformation of logistics equipment IT application by a unit under the Chengdu Military Area Command was held in western part of Sichuan Province, the officers and men working in the regimental and divisional logistics departments came onto the stage to display their feats.
Since last year, in line with the logistics support features of the stationed areas, the logistics departments of the said unit have made several dozens of scientific and technological achievements, including logistics command auxiliary decision-making system, field POL delivery route selection auxiliary decision-making system, the Sichuan-Tibet Line POL support video system, and field camping logistics support system, etc. which have effectively promoted logistics support IT application. In this exercise, various wonderful achievements made by this unit were clearly displayed on the screen.
At the inception of the exercise, the general director of the exercise gave the order: "a mountain brigade carrying out operational task in mountainous area is in urgent need of logistics support, organize the logistics troops to give logistics support to the brigade at once´" As soon as the order was issued, the staff officer clicked the mouse to input the order into the joint operation command decision-making support system, the disposition of logistics support strength immediately displayed on the screen. Within 5 minutes, along with the input of necessary data, a plan on giving emergency support to the frontline troops was sent to the frontline logistics support units. In another 10 minutes, the logistics support convoy with POL, clothing, ammunition and medical equipment were on its way to the frontline.
According to the general director of the exercise, in the past major combat readiness exercise, such as combat drill, emergency rescue and disaster relief, logistics decision making was mainly accomplished either manually or by relying on statistics system, which was inefficient and was an constraint to the speed of logistics command decision making. Since the beginning of last year, the brigade made efforts to raise money to develop logistics command automatic system in light of the requirements of military operations to ensure swift decision making of logistics support and provide troops with timely support.
"The field refueling station of an anti-aircraft artillery regiment is hit by the enemy fire, fuel in storage has incurred great loss, give the station support immediately!" Upon receiving the request from the front, the monitor system of the field POL depot commanding vehicle was immediately on´. Soon, the operation site of the said anti-aircraft artillery regiment was displayed on the screen in the form of electronic map while the field POL delivery route selection auxiliary decision-making system made estimation of POL consumption of the frontline troops' equipment and POL distribution plan in light of combat missions of various troops. Meanwhile field POL refueling vehicles swiftly performed refueling operation according to the plan to all artillery carriages of the regiment.
"The frontline position is being attacked by enemy planes, over 20 officers and men are wounded, give medical support to the frontline troops immediately!" Within minutes, the field long distance multi-platform medical support video system and field mobile medical treatment digital system started functioning. The two-way satellite transmission control system on the commanding vehicle sent the information of the seriously wounded soldiers by video and audio signals and text data to the medical experts at the rear hospital. The experts sat before the screen to direct the medical workers at the frontline to handle seriously wounded soldiers. In the long distance multi-platform video medical support surgery shelter, the surgeons were conducting amputating operation for a soldier seriously wounded by enemy artillery fire´. Very soon, all the "heavily wounded solders" were given timely medical treatment.
By Zhang Qinwu and Cheng Guotao
(January 29, PLA Daily)
