Chinese crew shine at International Army Games 2017

The Chinese team took the lead in the Clear Sky event, a competition among air defense units, at the International Army Games 2017 (IAG), hosted by the Chinese PLA Army in Korla, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Tuesday. Teams from Russia, Iran, Belarus, Venezuela, Egypt and Uzbekistan also competed in today's event. The final result has yet to be announced. Today is the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. (Photo: Cui Meng/GT)

IFV group applauded by foreign attendees at Army Games

Chinese infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) crew staged an excellent performance in Tuesday's "Clear Sky" race, the air defense competition of the International Army Games (IAG) 2017, which was hosted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Korla, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Clear Sky competition was joined by IFV crews from seven countries - China, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

Tuesday's competition asked crew members to drive an IFV through multiple barriers and obstacles on a 30-kilometer-long racing track, use anti-air missiles to destroy two aircraft targets and one helicopter target in three different locations on the racing track, and use machine guns to shoot a moving target.

The Global Times reporter saw on Tuesday that the Chinese group spent the shortest time crossing all barriers and obstacles without any fault, and hit all targets as required perfectly.

"We wanted the performance in the competition to be a gift to the PLA on its 90th anniversary," said Senior Colonel Yang Yong, the head of the Chinese group.

The final result of Tuesday's competition was yet to be announced by press time, since the referees need to use high-tech measures to review every crew's performance and calculate the final result together.

The Chinese crew's performance received praise from foreign military officers. An officer from the Pakistani air force surnamed Nadeem told the Global Times that the Chinese team's performance was not just better than others.

"I thought the competition was mainly between China and Russia since they both have outstanding soldiers. But the Russian crew's performance was not as good as the Chinese today," he said.

The shooter of the Chinese crew, Lu Donghua, 26, told the Global Times that their performance was not supernormal as the crew members had gone through intensive training for the race and they just performed normally.

Despite the desire for victory, fostering friendship among the attendees was also a part of the competition.

The Egyptian crew members wrote "Happy Army Day to China" on their IFV, and the Russian crew sang "Katyusha", a song well-known to both Russian and Chinese people, for the Chinese crew after the race to show respect to their strong opponent.

The seven competing crews all used China-made 92A Wheeled IFV and QW-2 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile launchers, or QW-2 man-portable air-defense system.

Tuesday was the second day of the IAG 2017.

The IAG, commonly known as "Military Olympics," was initiated by Russia in 2015, and is held annually.