Chinese Navy (PLAN) conducts amphibious drills on Paracel Islands

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Naval Forces News - China
 
 
 
Chinese Navy (PLAN) conducts amphibious drills on Paracel Islands
 
A PLAN flotilla centered around a Type 071 LPD (Yuzhao-class Landing Platform Dock) has completed a two-day amphibious drill off the Paracel Islands (also called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese) on Wednesday. The flotilla undertook a "three-dimensional" patrol of several islets, using surface vessels, Type 726 LCAC (Yuyi class) and Z-8 helicopters.
     
A PLAN flotilla centered around a Type 071 LPD (Yuzhao-class Landing Platform Dock) has completed a two-day amphibious drill off the Paracel Islands (also called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese) on Wednesday. The flotilla undertook a "three-dimensional" patrol of several islets, using surface vessels, Type 726 LCAC (Yuyi class) and Z-8 helicopters.
The joint maneuver taskforce of the South China Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) carried out a three-dimension cruise in the Xisha Islands from January 21 to 22, 2014. A Type 726 LCAC is seen as it is about to enter the Type 071 LPD well deck
(navy.81.cn/Qian Xiaohu)

     
Marines with the flotilla conducted a 20-minute landing training on Wednesday. The training "attained its anticipated objectives", according to Hu Dehai, a deputy brigade commander.

Commander of the Nanhai Fleet Jiang Weilie, who also serves as the flotilla's commander, landed on the islands to greet the garrison troops.

The patrol and landing operations fall within the flotilla's annual schedule that include combat drills in the South China Sea, the West Pacific Ocean and the east Indian Ocean.

The three-ship flotilla, consisting of Type 071 amphibious landing craft Changbaishan and destroyers Wuhan (Type 052B) and Haikou (Type 052C), left from a military port in south China's Hainan Province on Monday.

Changbaishan is the country's largest landing ship by gross tonnage and is equipped with an advanced weapons system. Both Wuhan and Haikou have experience of major drills and escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

Three Z-8 helicopters and a company of marines are stationed aboard the ships.

The Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese, is a group of islands whose sovereignty is disputed among the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China and Vietnam.

     
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