Chinese and Russian troops launched a forced isolation drill in
east China's Shandong
Province on
Thursday, the last item of the joint military exercise dubbed
"Peace Mission 2005."
At 11:00AM, two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers flew near the
drill zone after having flown two and a half hours from Russia,
which started the forced isolation drill.
An A-50 early warning plane took off to establish the airborne
early warning system. Other segments of the troops also went into
operation.
At 11:07AM, four Tu-22M3 Russian long-range bombers from Russia
also entered the drill zone and launched continuous attacks on the
airport of the "enemy troops."
Immediately after that, the airborne formation sent 18 fighter
jets in nine batches to attack the enemy troops, commanding posts
and defense works.
At 11:17AM, artillery fire bombarded frontline defense works and
other targets in the depths of enemy territory. Meanwhile, bombs
carrying propaganda materials were fired into the enemy area.
At 11:26AM, a formation of 10 IL-76 transport planes carrying
Chinese and Russian paratroops arrived at the airspace of the
combat zone covered by electronic-jamming planes and fighter
jets.
At 11:38AM, the transport planes dropped combat vehicles for the
paratroops and in less than 10 minutes, 24 combat vehicles had been
dropped. After that, 86 Chinese and Russian paratroops rappelled to
the ground from a height of 800 meters.
The paratroops quickly gathered around the fighting vehicles and
got ready to attack pre-set targets. They captured the airport,
cutting off the enemy's air links.
At 11:53AM, a transport helicopter arrived at the dropping zone
on the right of the enemy region under the cover of air fire and
let out troops, who immediately attacked pre-set targets to cut off
the enemy's link to the sea.
The Sino-Russian joint forces then sent in their rangers to
attack the defense line of the enemy under fire cover.
At 12:15PM, scores of armored vehicles from the southeast and
southwest rumbled into the area.
Chinese defense minister Cao
Gangchuan and his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov were at the
drill zone to observe and issue instructions.
Other observers included Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov,
Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairullaev, Kazakh Deputy Defense
Minister Abai Tasbulatov and Uzbekistan Deputy Defense Minister
R.Niyazov.
(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2005)
