Three highlights of 'Peace Mission 2010' worth expecting

Joint anti-terror drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) entered the second phase on Monday at the Matybulak range near the largest Kazakh city of Almaty.

There are at least three highlights of the joint anti-terror drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), dubbed as "Peace Mission 2010," said Li Shuyin, a research fellow of the division of world military within the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Science (PLAAMS).

First, the anti-terrorism drill has a high degree of live-fire combat and a large scale. There are more than 5,000 troops involved in the exercise from five of the six SCO member state: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan did not take part in the event.

Troops from Chinese Air force will fly from China for the first time to implement a long-range bombing mission after arriving at exercise regions and then fly back to home. The purpose is to train the troops' capabilities in long-rage strikes and air-ground coordination. In addition, the army aviation helicopters will conduct night shooting drills, which has never happed before.

Second, the equipment has many highlights. The equipment of troops attending the exercise will be displayed after the drills. In recent years, Russia carried out a reform of a "new face of armed forces" and its weapons and equipment have been improved. This display will showcase the result of the relevant reforms. For China, some equipment featured in the parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Day will be shown.

Third, the drill has a high level of mutual trust. It is the largest multilateral exercise under the framework of the SCO held outside of China and Russia, which symbolizes to a large extent the mutual level of trust among the member states of the SCO. Kazakhstan agreed to allow the air force of a foreign country into its airspace to implement the drills, which shows great trust.

By Liang Jun, People's Daily Online