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Equipment
Firearms – The small arms used by PLA SOF include standard issue weapons such as QBZ95 automatic weapons, QBU88 sniper rifle, QSZ92 pistol, and PF89 80mm individual rocket launcher. They also has specialised weapons including Type 64 silenced pistol, Type 85 silenced submachine gun, and explosives. Crew-served weapons include QYJ88 general machine gun, QLZ87 35mm automatic grenade launcher, W99 82mm automatic mortar, PF98 120mm rocket launcher.
FHJ84 Rocket Launcher – PLA SOF has been spotted using the FHJ84 twin-62mm rocket launcher in the exercise. The rocket launcher was designed to launch rocket-propelled incendiary and smoke grenades. A high-explosive (HE) air burst steel balls round was also introduced for SOF.
Satellite Positioning Receivers – PLA SOF are currently equipped with PDA sized device that can receive both the U.S. GPS and Russian GLONASS signals. This could provide 10~50m class accuracy positioning data. China is also developing its own COMPASS satellite positioning system, which could provide military class positioning data in East Asia region as early as 2010.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) – PLA SOF is equipped with a variety of UAV for reconnaissance and surveillance roles. These UAV can be launched by handheld or from a small vehicle-mounted launcher.
All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV) – PLA SOF has been widely using ATV for travelling in the battlefield. These vehicles can be carried by helicopters for airborne operations.
Light Utility Vehicles – PLA SOF has been using light utility vehicles such as BJ2020SJ and EQ2050 for travelling.
Fast Attack Vehicles (FAV) – The FAV originally developed for the airborne forces is also equipped by PLA SOF.
Powered Parachute (PPC) – PLA SOF has been investing heavily in the use of PPC for air infiltration and assault. The small size of the PPC means that it is very difficult to be detected by conventional radar and other surveillance equipment.
High-Speed Boat – These are used for operations in water regions and sea infiltration operations.
Surveillance Equipment — Night-vision goggles (NVGs), low-light TV (LLTV), handheld laser rangefinders.
Communications – PLA SOF are equipped with manpack tactical radio and video-voice-data communication equipment.
Digitised Army — The SOF unit in the Chengdu MR has been experimenting with the use of digitised army systems similar to those in the U.S. Land Warrior project
‘Digitised Army’: Soldiers of the SOF unit in the
Chengdu Military Region equipped with digitised army soldier system
(Source: PLA Daily)