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First consecutive airdrop of heavy equipment by PLA Air Force successfully accomplished
Let's see how you do this under a barrage of Patriot missiles.Around 10: 00 o'clock yesterday, we journalists boarded on the No. 4035 large transporter, an aircraft belonging to a transport aviation division of the PLA Air Force, and headed for the designated airdrop and air landing sites at the Weibei Shooting Range to witness from the air the consecutive airdrop of 3 pieces of heavy equipment of the PLA Air Force, the first airdrop with ammunitions by the PLA Air Force, and a debut appearance of a new type of paratroops combat vehicle. At 10:33am, the No 4035 Transporter carrying journalists took off from the airport and climbed rapidly into the sky. After flying for some time through some dense clouds, it entered the designated airdrop space. At 11:25am, the transporter began to descend. Navigators Li Hui'an and Chen Zhijian were busy calculating the time and distance, and as we looked down, we could see clearly the vast expanse of green fields peppered with villages under our aircraft. Thrilling journalism. At 11:35am, the first transporter dropped 3 pieces of heavy equipment one after another. One minute later, the second transporter began its airdrop; still another minute later, the third transporter finished its drop of heavy equipment. Building suspense, I see. Is this ghostwritten by Robert Ludlum? At 11:38am, the navigator of the transporter on which the journalists boarded pressed the airdrop button, and three combat vehicles promptly slid out of the cargo bay. Oooh! Aaah! Meanwhile huge parachutes on the heavy equipment dropped from four transporters all opened up. Several dozen seconds later, the heavy equipment fell onto the ground. Instantly, the separation device on parachutes activated and the parachutes flew away. No shock damage? Somewhere out on the net, there's a compliation video of U.S. airdrops gone wrong...it's hilarious, jeeps speeding away unpiloted and such. In a few minutes, 12 pieces of heavy equipment dropped by four transporters of the PLA Air Force all landed safely at the designated dropping site. There's much more of this sort of thing at the PLA special report on China-Russia Joint Exercises, such as "Chinese, Russian defense ministers join soldiers in lunch" and other page-turners. Posted by: gromky 2005-08-30 |
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