|
On July 26, the reporter patrolled on the Erguna River, the Sino-Russia boundary river, together with the officers and men of a frontier defense patrol boat group of the Beijing Military Area Command. The officers and men sped forward on the river in light gray patrol boats. Director Qiu of the Armaments Department of the Beijing Military Area Command, who came to the patrol boat group for inspection, told the reporter that the group had established a modern boat and ship maintenance base and had the ability to carry out overhaul of heavy equipment by and large. The performance of the group's boats and ships has been always kept in excellent shape, which can be sent to any frontier defense water areas to carry out tasks.
The frontier patrol boat group is stationing in water areas of the borderline, which is 880 kilometers long. Thus, the troops of the patrol boat group are called "Boundary River Sailors". Since the station of the group is far away from industrial cities, the boats and ships, needed to be overhauled, used to be transported with heavy vehicles, passing vast grasslands, to the inland. Sometimes, the boats and vessels would travel for over a thousand kilometers to the manufacturer for repair and maintenance. In recent years, the group has planned equipment maintenance work from a higher starting point and made great efforts to improve its independent supporting ability. With the help of the higher authorities, a professional reparation plant for boats and ships, a warehouse for vehicles and boats as well as technological and anti-chemical apparatus, and a repairing workshop etc., totaling over 6,000 square meters have been established. In addition, the group has also acquired various modernized maintenance machines step by step and introduced in advanced maintenance technology, thus putting an end to the history that the boats and ships have to be sent to inland for maintenance.
By Wu Tianmin and Zhao Peng
(July 30, PLA Daily)
|
