On the night of Aug. 12, an armored regiment of the Beijing Military Area Command staged a night fighting exercise under high-tech conditions in central Hebei Province. The officers and men of the regiment maneuvered their armored vehicles incessantly on unfamiliar battlefield to seek advantageous tactical positions, and in a command post, instant transmission of audio and video information and the command and information countermeasures were being conducted synchronously.

　　It was pitchy dark on the vast battlefield, and as soon as a group of invading enemy under the cover of night darkness showed their heads, they were immediately discovered by the reconnaissance devices of the "Red Army". The commander of the　"Red Army" swiftly issued orders to his troops, and all his fighting forces, including tanks, armored vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles immediately threw into action as ordered. They used night vision devices, laser telescope and ranging devices to lock on the "enemy" targets. The reporter was then in a commanding vehicle and witnessed some episodes of the battle through a night vision device: A tank in a deep-thrust element failed to discover a target hidden on the left-side hillock when it was thrusting forward into enemy's defense, but the said target was found by his fellow tank following behind, who immediately reminded the tank in the front and at the same time, reported the situation to the command center. In response, the command center made prompt combat disposition by ordering the two tanks to take advantage of terrain conditions to approach "enemy" targets in concealment. Eventually the two tanks opened fire simultaneously and annihilated the hidden "enemy". 　

　　Regiment Commander Yang Shunping, who acted as the commander of the "Red Army" in the exercise, told the reporter that the night fighting subject was a "hard nut" in his regiment's training program. In order to enable his troops to be able to hide without being discovered, move swiftly and strike sure blows at the enemy in night fighting, he decided to enhance the proportion of night training in the training program. In addition, his regiment also successfully developed a number of night training devices in light of the existing equipment and requirements of the training, and formulated an auxiliary system incorporating various facets of the operations ranging from fighting elements to support units, from grassroots companies to the higher-level command headquarters, and from operational command to follow-up logistical support. In recent years, his regiment has also compiled a number of training pamphlets on the basis of their experiences, such as "Outline for Night Training of Tank Element", "Standards for Night Training of Tank Element" and "Detailed Evaluation Standards for Night Training of Tank Element". All these have enabled the night training of his troops to embark onto the right track and achieve constant enhancement of overall fighting capacity of his troops.

　　By Ma Dayong and Zhu Zhenjiang

　　(September 9, PLA Daily)