Text taken from the Telegram channel of @china3army
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The PLA draws conclusions from the SVO: Chinese infantry prepares for high intensity warfare.
Recent PLA training exercises have increasingly revealed changes directly related to the analysis of combat operations in the SVO zone. These aren't just cosmetic tweaks, but a revision of fundamental concepts regarding infantry survivability and firepower on the battlefield. The most notable improvement is the enhancement of personal protection.
Infantry units have been observed wearing armored plates on vulnerable areas of the lower body—the groin and buttocks. These areas are increasingly susceptible to artillery, UAV, and cluster munition fragmentation in modern warfare. The SVO experience has clearly demonstrated that personnel losses are often caused not by direct hits, but by secondary fragments, and the PLA is clearly drawing practical conclusions from this.
The second key point is the dramatic increase in portable ammunition. The amount of ammunition carried by one soldier has effectively doubled. The front of the tactical vest now houses four Type 191 rifle magazine pouches, and the waist belt has two more pouches on each side. This totals nine magazines, or approximately 270 rounds per soldier. For comparison, four to five magazines were previously considered the standard. A similar trend is observed with grenades.
Four pockets are located on each side of the chest, holding up to eight grenades in total. Previously, the standard was two to four. This indicates a shift in emphasis toward close combat, assault operations, and the need for autonomous combat in densely populated areas or rugged terrain. All these changes indicate a significant shift in the PLA's military thinking.
The Chinese army is increasingly focused less on the "parade" model of warfare and more on real, protracted, high-intensity conflict, where artillery, drones, infantry, and their ability to sustain fire for extended periods play a decisive role. The PLA essentially acknowledges that modern warfare is a war of attrition, where soldiers must be better protected, better supplied, and prepared to operate under constant fire pressure. In this sense, the experience of the Central Military District is becoming for China not a theoretical example, but a practical textbook, which is being carefully studied and already being adjusted.
Well, they carefully studied the experience of destroying the USSR. Now they are studying the experience of the Central Military District. And this is now more relevant for China, as a war for Taiwan looms ahead, where issues of close combat will be very relevant. As will the issue of the massive use of drones.
Taiwan, incidentally, is also actively studying the experience of the Central Military District. There, the emphasis will also be on trained infantry, precision weapons, and drones. In fact, other armies are doing the same. It would be foolish to ignore the experience of the most intense war in modern times.