China military shows off newest helicopters, tanks

China showed off the growing sophistication of its defense industries Friday by featuring its newest attack helicopters and main battle tanks at a multinational live-firing military exercise in the country's north. State media said the new hardware performed to expectations in the ‘Peace Mission-2014’ drill featuring more than 7,000 personnel from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The exercise at Zhurihe, China's largest and most modern training base in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, was the culmination of a week of joint training under a regional grouping known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The website of the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said the latest versions of the Type 99 main battle tank and the Z-10 and Z-19 attack helicopters were taking part for the first time in multinational exercises, in which actual ammunition was being used. China's air force earlier announced it had deployed a new type of armed drone in the exercises, and that it had carried out a successful missile attack on a command vehicle, according to AP.