PLA kicks off annual combat training sessions

The People's Liberation Army has begun its annual training sessions for 2025, focusing on improving units' combat capability.

On Thursday, the first workday of the year, a brigade of the PLA Ground Force's 76th Group Army launched its New Year training activities on a plateau in northwestern China, dispatching soldiers to carry out live-fire and tactical maneuver drills.

Another brigade from the 73rd Group Army organized tactical training for its infantrymen and armored vehicle units.

A flotilla of advanced guided-missile destroyers and frigates from a destroyer squadron of the South Sea Fleet set sail on Thursday to begin a combat exercise, which will involve the CNS Yan'an, a Type 055-class destroyer.

A ship-borne helicopter group of the South Sea Fleet arranged its pilots to conduct multiple training maneuvers from an airport on an island in the South China Sea.

A PLA Air Force fighter jet brigade organized aviators to take part in an air combat contest, which was intended to hone their fighting skills.

On the ground, an air-defense missile brigade of the PLA Air Force led its troops to detect, track and hit "hostile aircraft" during a combat drill.

Also on Thursday, several units of the PLA Rocket Force deployed their missile launch teams to perform exercises in multiple places.

In its New Year editorial published on Wednesday, PLA Daily, the Chinese military's flagship newspaper, said that 2025 is the last year of the military's 14th Five-year Plan. It is also a crucial year for the military to meet goals set by the Communist Party of China.

The Party has laid out a series of goals for the PLA to accomplish before August 2027, when the PLA will celebrate its 100th founding anniversary.

The article calls for the armed forces to enhance their determination, improve troops' morale, focus on tasks and make sure all missions can be completed so that all the goals can be achieved on time.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn