The China-Russia maritime joint exercise codenamed "Maritime Joint Exercise 2013" officially entered the stage of actual-troop exercise on July 8, local time. The actual-troop exercise set up over 10 subjects to be carried out in the course of 3 days.
6 subjects including joint air defense, maritime replenishment, passing through submarine-threatened areas, joint escort, joint rescue of hijacked ship, and attack on maritime targets will be carried out on July 9.
In the subject of joint air defense, both sides shall form their own air defense formations to cruise on the sea, conduct joint radar search and simulated weapon attack on two "enemy" aircraft played by Russian SU-24 fighters, so as to practice comprehensive use of Chinese-Russian taskforces and form the coordination of systematic air defense.
In the subject of maritime replenishment, the Chinese ship will take the longitudinal supply combat position of the Russian supply ship and the Russian ship is also in the same longitudinal supply combat position of the Chinese supply ship in order to carry out simulated supply.
When passing through the submarine-threatened area, both sides shall form their own single columns and adopt anti-submarine maneuver, that is, the "Z-shape" maneuver, to initiate joint search of the "enemy" submarine played by a Russian Kilo-class submarine.
In the subject of joint escort, both sides will form a joint escort formation, two ship-borne helicopters take off, land on each other's ships respectively and lift up again to conduct reconnaissance on guard. Then 2 Russian "Tarantula"-class guided-missile corvette simulate pirate attacks, the two ship-borne helicopters will immediately implement simulated attacks and subsequently return to their own ships.
In the subject of joint rescue of hijacked ships, a merchant ship played by the Russian 101 supply ship is hijacked. The 2 ships from both sides will dispatch their respective boat carrying 5 special operation members, who will close in and board the "merchant ship" at the maximum speed, eliminate the "pirates", and rescue the ship.
In the subject of attack on maritime targets, some ships from both sides shall form the "Blue Force". A Russian IL-38 aircraft is responsible for discovering the "Blue Force", while the remaining ships from both sides will initiate simulated guided-missile attack on the "Blue Force" under the leadership of the Russian Varyag cruiser.
The subjects to be implemented on July 10 include joint search and rescue, actual use of weaponry on sea, maritime parade and withdrawal of forces.
During the joint search and rescue, the "Hongze Lake" comprehensive supply ship will simulate a wrecked ship. A Russian ship-borne helicopter will take off to initiate an aerial search for "drowning personnel", two ships from both sides will respectively lower a small boat carrying rescue team to implement maritime search. Then, a Russian rescue tugboat will approach and tow way the ship in wreck.
The subject of use of actual weaponry on sea primarily includes the firing of main guns, firing of auxiliary guns and salvo of rocket depth charges. For the firing of the main guns, some ships from both sides will aim at the target dragged by the Russian tugboat. For the firing of auxiliary guns, some ships from both sides will utilize high fire-rate guns to shot down the parachute targets dropped by the Russian IL-38 aircraft at 4,200 meters in the air. For the salvo of rocket depth charges, some ships from both sides will carry out the salvo rocket shells.
During the maritime parade, the Russian Varyag cruiser will act as the reviewing ship. Ding Yiping, deputy commander of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN), and Sukhanov, deputy chief of staff of the Russian Navy, will be on board of the Varyag cruiser to review together the participating ships and aircraft.
