Chinese team leads in ‘Suvorov attack’ race at army games

Crews from three fighting vehicle units of the Xinjiang Military Region, claimed victory over competitors from Kazakhstan, Iran and Belarus at the International Army Games 2018 held in Korla, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Monday in the “Suvorov attack for infantry fighting vehicle crews” segment of the competition. (Photo: Cui Meng/GT)

A Chinese team leads the world in the "Suvorov attack" individual race after the first day of International Army Games 2018 competition in Korla, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 

Monday's "Suvorov attack" individual race was a contest where each country fields three crews driving one infantry fighting vehicle each. 

China, Kazakhstan, Iran and Belarus participated on the first day in the race. 

China's second crew finished the race in 16 minutes, 54 seconds. The crew successfully destroyed all targets in the gun competition and passed all obstacles and anti-tank barriers without any fault or accident. 

The first crew, due to a mechanical fault, took more than 35 minutes to finish the race, but the third Chinese crew finished the race in 17 minutes.

Competition was intense: The Iranian team crashed their vehicle in a field on Monday, injuring crew members. Other competing countries all took more than 20 minutes to finish the race.

Russia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe will compete in the second half of the draw on Wednesday.

The Russian team will drive a Russian-made BMP-2, while all the other teams use the Chinese-made 86A IFV.

"The games can help Chinese soldiers learn real combat experience from their Russian counterparts," said Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert. 

"China-made 86A and Russia-made BMP2 are very similar, and Russia has used BMP-2 in many regional wars in past decade."