ANNUAL REPORT

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217
the Sharp Sword series of exercises. 201 During this period China
conducted Stride-2009, Firepower-2009, and Mission Action-2010,
which set key themes for joint exercises that followed the Tenth
Five-Year Plan. 202 The exercise themes the PLA focused on included
civil-military integration, air force and naval force projection,
joint training methods, and command and control for war
zones. 203
Key Exercises
Since the release of the revised Outline and training standardization,
China has continued to focus on incorporating greater realism,
strengthening campaign training, and conducting long-distance maneuvers
during exercises to develop PLA capabilities to conduct
large-scale joint operations. 204 Exercises such as Stride, Firepower,
Mission Action, and Joint Action emphasize many of these focus
areas. 205
Stride (Kuayue): Stride is a long-distance ground force maneuver
exercise that was held four times from 2009 to 2016. 206 Skills
practiced in this exercise series have included command and control,
logistics, civil-military integration, joint campaign planning,
long-range firepower strike, deployment of special operational
forces, urban combat, reconnaissance, information warfare, and
electronic warfare. 207 The Stride series of exercises has sought to
test and evaluate combat forces and since 2014 has made use of opposing
forces to increase realism. 208 During Stride-2016 the PLA
continued the theme of long-distance maneuver operations, which
included moving combined arms brigades from each of the five new
theater commands, using an opposing force, and conducting operations
in a complex electromagnetic (jamming) environment. 209
Firepower (Huoli): Firepower, like Stride, was held four times
between 2009 and 2016. The Firepower series focuses on longrange
mobility, precision strike, command and control, and reconnaissance
operations. 210 Firepower-2015 made use of opposing
forces simulating U.S. tactics during the exercise. 211 As in 2015,
Firepower-2016 continued the use of an opposition force to create
realistic battlefield conditions for the transregional exercise. 212
Mission Action (Shiming Xingdong): Mission Action, held in
2010 and 2013, focused on long-range maneuver. Mission Action-
2010, a followup to the Stride-2009 exercise, was the first time
operational PLA forces crossed military region boundaries to participate
in a joint exercise and were deployed by road, rail, and
air. 213 Mission Action-2013 built upon the 2010 transregional mobility
theme by conducting the deployment while defending against
an opposing force to create a more realistic training environment.
214
Joint Action (Lianhe Xingdong): Joint Action, held in 2014
and 2015, emphasized theater command and control, reconnaissance,
information operations, logistics, ground-air integration, and
civil-military integration for conducting joint operations. 215 During
Joint Action 2015, the PLA focused on sea-air-land integration, information
operations, and maritime operations. 216 The 2014 and
2015 exercises both emphasized PLA joint planning. 217
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