Chinese military trains main battle tanks and drones in multinational joint training in Russia

(Shanghai = Yonhap News) Correspondent Cha Byeong-seop = It has been reported that the Chinese military mobilized main battle tanks and drones in a large-scale multinational joint military exercise held in Russia and conducted training in a real-life environment.

According to Liberation Army Newspaper and China Central (CC) TV on the 4th (local time), Chinese troops who participated in the 'Tsentr (Central)-2026' training held in Chelyabinsk, Russia, near the border with Kazakhstan from the 28th of last month to the day before, began to withdraw after the training end event.

In this training, 47,000 troops from 41 countries, including China, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Pakistan, participated in intelligence reconnaissance, command and control, firepower strike, and comprehensive support.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov previously said that in preparing for this training, he took into account the special experience gained during Ukraine's 'special military operation' and the combat aspects of modern armed conflicts.

A Chinese military official explained that the Chinese military units participating in the training were part of the central theater.

Chinese military training focused on three-dimensional reconnaissance, intelligence and firepower strikes, assaults from multiple directions, and rapid annihilation.

The Chinese Army's Type 99A main battle tank was mobilized for the training, and unmanned equipment was also used. A swarm of drones provided ground forces with accurate information about the target, and tactical drones struck the target along with helicopters and unmanned ground equipment. Units participating in the training were reportedly deployed underground to avoid drone attacks.

A reporter from the Liberation Army newspaper who observed the scene evaluated the level of actual combat as high, saying, “It is reminiscent of an actual battlefield.”

He went on to say that unmanned equipment was used on a large scale throughout the entire process, adding, "During the course of the battle, various unmanned aerial vehicles occupied the sky at low altitudes. Various unmanned combat vehicles were widely used for firepower strikes, clearing passageways, and setting up obstacles."

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, said in a Global Times interview that recent combat patterns show that tanks are vulnerable to large-scale drones and precision-guided weapons, and predicted that the Chinese military will be able to improve its ability to respond to asymmetric threats through this training.

He also said that the use of the Type 99A tank along with drones and unmanned ground equipment reflects the expansion of integration of manned and unmanned equipment.

The Hong Kong media South China Morning Post (SCMP) assessed that although China and Russia are not formal allies, they are strengthening strategic cooperation through regular joint naval and air force reconnaissance and large-scale land exercises.

He went on to view this training as an opportunity to expose the Chinese military, which has not had experience in large-scale combat for decades, to operational experience from the Ukraine War, including drone warfare.