Si the rapid reinforcement of the Chinese fleet is now known to all, the very important efforts made by the People's Liberation Army to train its crews and perfect their mastery of modern naval combat, are much less so. However, whether it concerns surface, naval air, amphibious, logistics and submarine units, all participate in numerous exercises according to increasingly advanced scenarios, and often using ammunition fire, precisely to increase the seasoning of sailors and their officers. Thus, it is now common for large naval units, destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers or assault ships, to participate each year in several large-scale exercises, or in remote deployments, according to a rhythm that is noticeably denser than that imposed. to Western marine units.
Like the controlled rise in power of the industrial tool producing the new buildings of the Chinese Navy, the crew upskilling programs also seems to have been the subject of very precise and effective planning, with a rapid but controlled progression allowing assimilation but also feedback. Thus, in recent years, the Chinese Navy has carried out dozens of amphibious exercises using an increasing number of ships and power projection units, sometimes on coasts quite similar to those bordering the island of Taiwan. However, until now, these exercises had always been held near or even on the Chinese coast, which simplified many aspects. It is no longer the case.
Indeed, according to Globaltimes.cn, very close to the PCC, the PLA Navy conducted, a few days ago, a first amphibious exercise qualified as "remote", ie reproducing a projection of power without relying on continental forces. So, the new Type 075 Haina assault helicopter carriern, entered service just 6 months ago, escorted by the Type 052D Hohhot anti-aircraft destroyer, the Type 054A anti-submarine frigate Liuzhou and the Type 901 tanker Chaganhu, jointly conducted an exercise simulating an air-amphibious assault to project Chinese marines using helicopters and hovercraft, during a 30-day mission in the Western Pacific and a journey of 9000 nautical miles. The exact site of the exercise has not been disclosed, nor the volume of forces projected. However, this is both a first for the PLA, allowing it to accumulate experience in this type of exercise, but also a message to the US Navy: the fleet China can now intervene beyond the first circle of islands surrounding the China Sea.
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