(ASK) How well trained are the pla special forces?

delft

Brigadier
I work with a man that is an Iowa National Guardsmen and is a radio operator. He told me all the radios are digital. I don't know if every grunt has one. I know each US Navy Seal has a communication device.
I remember seeing a photograph of a portable radio from WWI, drawn by a horse and with two men inside. A personal radio for a soldier need not be larger than a mobile phone and make contact with other soldiers, HQ, or whatever its signals relayed by the other radio's in the field, UAVs, tethered balloons &c. It will all be digital, have minimal power requirements and you won't see if anyone carries it. If they don't have it already they will in a few years time, in the armies of all countries with enough money and perhaps most will be manufactured in China.
 

Hyperwarp

Captain
I work with a man that is an Iowa National Guardsmen and is a radio operator. He told me all the radios are digital. I don't know if every grunt has one. I know each US Navy Seal has a communication device.

[Off-topic]Ever arm-wrestled with a Navy seal? :D [/Off-topic]
 

paintgun

Senior Member
hi Blitzo, sorry for the late reply, it's a long weekend here

also sorry for getting carried into defending my opinion, i think we all can stay polite and honest here in SDF, while still having a fun discussion on this topic

on the topic of radios, and scopes, again i use the Marines as examples :

ACOG scopes :
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IISR radio :
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Blitzo

Lieutenant General
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hi Blitzo, sorry for the late reply, it's a long weekend here

also sorry for getting carried into defending my opinion, i think we all can stay polite and honest here in SDF, while still having a fun discussion on this topic

No need to be sorry. Sometimes communicating through words alone one cannot understand the real meaning one means to convey.

on the topic of radios, and scopes, again i use the Marines as examples :

ACOG scopes :
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IISR radio :
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I've acknowledged the fact that scopes are more common place in western/us/nato armies than the PLA (at the moment). But I've still seen no evidence that every single western soldier is equipped with radios, and from pictures of soldiers in iraq and afghanastan we can say radios are certainly not distributed to every soldier. Squad level radios are a different matter, and I believe most PLA fireteams have a single soldier as radio operator as well.
 

paintgun

Senior Member
I've acknowledged the fact that scopes are more common place in western/us/nato armies than the PLA (at the moment). But I've still seen no evidence that every single western soldier is equipped with radios, and from pictures of soldiers in iraq and afghanastan we can say radios are certainly not distributed to every soldier. Squad level radios are a different matter, and I believe most PLA fireteams have a single soldier as radio operator as well.

Well if you looked into the links about the IISR, it clearly describes the specs and functions these radios perform, and how it is distributed for each squad member and utilized as intra squad level communication radio through headsets

the squad radio is a different matter, and as you say assigned to the 'radio guy' as a mean of communication and coordination between the squad leader to the platoon leader and above (higher officers and HQ)

Another (albeit more important and also quantifiable) aspect of training, is of course marksmanship, which can be very thorough and under diverse conditions, such as night conditions or poor weather (shooting under rain/bad weather), i'll provide some USMC qualification course requirements :

Below is the run of the "old" KD range. It is broken down into five stages, on three different yard lines.

STAGE ONE:
Distance Time Rounds Type of Fire Position
200 Yards 20 Min 5 Slow Fire Sitting
5 Slow Fire Kneeling
5 Slow Fire Standing

Notes: During this stage of fire, the Marines are only allowed to load 5 rounds at a time before making a complete safe weapon and changing positions. The total time is 20 minutes for all 15 rounds.

A sling is allowed for all positions except for standing. During the standing position the shooter may either have a tight parade sling, or take it off the weapon.

STAGE TWO:
Distance Time Rounds Type of Fire Position
200 Yards 70 Sec 5/5 Rapid Standing to kneeling

Notes: 5/5= a tactical reload. The Marine is only allowed to load 5 rounds in each magazine. Therefore, the Marine has to reload for the second magazine. Makes for some interesting groups if your not careful to get that natural point of aim back.

A rapid fire means just that; Firing rapidly. (You only have 70 second to get them all out!)
STAGE THREE:
Distance Time Rounds Type of Fire Position
300 yards 5 Min 5 Slow Kneeling


STAGE FOUR:
Distance Time Rounds Type of Fire Position
300 Yards 70 Sec 5/5 Rapid Standing to kneeling

The position change from standing to kneeling is one of the better parts of the range. It really tests the Marines ability to adjust their firing position quickly, just like they might in combat. Drop to the ground and fire.
STAGE FIVE:
Distance Time Rounds Type of Fire Position
500 Yards 10 Min 10 Slow Prone

This yard line is often referred to as "gravy points" because the you really get to take your time here.

Range Scoring

The scoring for the range runs like this:

Expert: 40 -65
Sharpshooter: 35-39
Marksman: 25-34

source :
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a more complete reference :
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now if only we have some similar informations about PLAN Marines equivalent course and training qualifications
 
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Blitzo

Lieutenant General
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^ Unfortunatley we have nothing of the sort for PLA training qualifications, although I'm sure there are results from competitions and the like.
And sorry, I read the word intra as inter =_="
But again, radios are clearly not distributed to every grunt in every scenario. But using photos to try and compare the distribution of radios is flawed anyway because we don't know if the pictures we see are a good sample of the actual overall population.

Unless of course, we get someone who was in the PLA and/or US army/marines and can give a low down on the reality and work from there. Actually I'm going to pose the question over at CDF as well. This subject isn't fully relevant to PLA SOF (I think you'd be hard pressed to argue they wouldn't have access to radios), but oh well.
 

paintgun

Senior Member
i'm pretty sure there must be some infos on the less well known threads in Chinese BBS, probably old ones

hope you can dig something out at CDF, also professionals willing to share anything here will be a rare privilege to us all, and much appreciated by everyone
 

paintgun

Senior Member
buffed up Type-03!
camo suggest this is indeed PLA, any idea which unit/org?

then this brings to mind the relative uneasiness for QBZ-95's design to adopt add-on scopes
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
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This is ZH-05, basically a type 03 with a 20mm airburst grenade launcher (and the associated electronics)

Think of it as sino OICW or sino K11
 
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