Chinese Army Conducts Live-fire Exercise Using Armored Vehicles at Djibouti Base

The Chinese People's Liberation Army’s Logistics Support Base in Djibouti has conducted a live-fire exercise using several wheeled tank destroyers and wheeled infantry fighting vehicles.

The armored vehicles from the base in the Horn of Africa took part in the exercise at a local shooting range and fired dozens of shells, People’s daily quoted news release published late Friday by the PLA Navy, which administers the logistics support base in its report.

Infantry practiced assault maneuvers with the armored vehicles, it said. It quoted Senior Captain Liang Yang, commander of the base, as saying that the move was intended to verify the combat capability of troops and their weapons and to improve their adaptability in the local environment.

The PLA established its Djibouti Logistics Support Base, on July 11 and put it into formal operation on Aug 1.

The base will support the Chinese military's naval escort, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Africa and western Asia, the Navy said. It will also help China improve its capabilities in international military cooperation, joint exercises, emergency evacuations and overseas rescue.