CCTV screen captures of the Pakistan-China first-ever joint army exercise "Karakoram 2026."
The exercise currently underway is Karakoram 2026, being held in Korla, Xinjiang. Beijing has described it as the first formal China-Pakistan Army-to-Army ground force exercise (link) , with training focused on counter-terrorism, drones, long-range marksmanship, and joint command procedures. As with many recent PLA exercises involving foreign militaries, drones, and especially robotic "dog drones," are heavily featured.
A word of caution: I'm talking about this particular Central China TV segment, not the exercise itself.
Because judging solely from the footage, it felt less like a military drill and more like a Saturday morning market where everyone's trying to sell you something.
- Try before you buy? Check.
- Tables laid out to display the merchandise? Check.
- Neatly lined-up products arranged to impress a potential customer? Check.
- Helpful sales representatives standing nearby to explain all the features? Pretty much check.
The star of the show appeared to be the ever-growing family of Chinese drones and unmanned gadgets. If a defense export catalog suddenly came to life and started moving around a training ground, it would probably look a lot like this.
As for what Karakoram 2026 means for the broader China-Pakistan military relationship, interoperability, and regional security dynamics, I'll leave that discussion to the subject matter experts who earn their living producing 37-minute YouTube videos with titles ending in question marks.
I'm just here to admire what looked suspiciously like a very well-organized defense trade show disguised as a military exercise. Again, I am referring this particular Central China TV segment only
Friday, August 02, 2024
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Of course, this is the new PLA, therefore they must bring "drones, drones, and more drones" with them wherever they go.
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