Saturday, January 13, 2018

PLA Unit of the day: Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, Marine Brigade, China Navy

Each China Navy Marine Brigade has an organic Reconnaissance Battalion, they are trained to carry out all-terrain reconnaissance, battlefield surveillance, counter-reconnaissance missions as well as SpOps on bard of PLAN warships.  Since day one, each of the China Navy anti-piracy task force to the Gulf of Aden has been assigned those reconnaissance elements serving both in SpOps and traditional duties of Marines in ship's detachments.


As you can tell, they have two sets of uniforms -- traditional "smurf blue" when they are under their normal chain-of-command.  In that role, their are reserved in supporting their Marine comrades-in-arms by providing timely intelligence to their marine brigade command.   They switch to their "Right Said Fred - ‘I’m Too Sexy" black during a foreign deployment and under the Gulf of Aden task force Command at the CMC, headed by a naval flag officer.  



Special operations soldier assigned to a reconnaissance battalion with the Marine Corps under the PLA Navy fades into his background as he looks through the sight of his sniper rifle during a sniper training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yan Jialuo, Pu Yuxiang and Xia Lei)


 Special operations soldiers assigned to a reconnaissance battalion with the Marine Corps under the PLA Navy establish their firing positions with rifles to provide security during a recent special operations training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yan Jialuo, Pu Yuxiang and Xia Lei)




 Two special operations soldiers maneuver on skis as they lock in simulated targets with sniper rifles during a recent special operations training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yan Jialuo, Pu Yuxiang and Xia Lei)




Special operations soldiers assigned to a reconnaissance battalion with the Marine Corps under the PLA Navy conduct diving operations underwater with rifles during a recent special operations training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yan Jialuo, Pu Yuxiang and Xia Lei)





Tuesday, July 05, 2011


VBSS body armor adopted.

Judging by the photos of PLAN's 9th Task Force to the Gulf and Aden, it seems the PLAN SpOps team has adopted Clear Duty's VBSS body armor.    Also noted from the photo of a fore-gripped Type95, the PLAN is allowing its elites a greater leverage in customizing their gear.

All those adjustments show that the decision to participate in the anti-piracy duties is paying dividends in unexpected ways for the PLAN.






Friday, June 10, 2011


PLAMC testing new VBSS body armor vest for boarding team 


Clear Duty VBSS body armor vest is being tested by the PLAMC for boarding party. It's made by a local Chinese private company. VBSS stands for Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operation.

The CD VBSS is more comfortable and offers quick-release that the standard issued Type 06 body armor lacks. The quick-release is a life saver if a boarding team member fall into the water. All he needed it is just pull the quick-release to remove the vest (which will be loaded down with hard plates, ammo, pistol, comm & other gears) and swim to the surface.

The vest uses Kevlar material and has large SAPI size hard plate pocket in the front and back. --
- Timothy Yan





2 comments:

Ozsteve53 said...

Funny showing Clint Eastwood . In real life his military service consisted of nothing except being a lifeguard at a US army camp .

Coatepeque said...

it was from a movie about marine (USMC) recon.