The People's Liberation Army(PLA) joint logistics support force engineering university. Photo: snapshot from CCTV News.

After China's three newly established military academies held their inaugural ceremonies on Saturday and will soon start recruiting graduates from high schools, China's state media visited the People's Liberation Army (PLA) joint logistics support force engineering university on Sunday.

China's Ministry of National Defense announced the establishment of three new military academies in mid-May. The three institutions are a PLA university for branches of the army, a PLA information support force engineering university, and a PLA joint logistics support force engineering university. 

According to the China's Ministry of National Defense, these academies will be recognized as institutions of higher education and will begin admission process toward high school graduates across the country. The three universities held their establishment ceremonies on Saturday, CCTV News reported. 

The CCTV News conducted an on-site visit to the PLA joint logistics support force engineering university on Sunday, witnessing a full-dress comprehensive drill where students from various majors engage in exercises that closely simulated battlefield conditions. The drills included forward delivery of materials, fuel supply guarantee, setting up field fuel depots, refueling multiple vehicles, new energy field power supply, and emergency rescue. 

The petroleum department under the PLA joint logistics support force engineering university is the only higher education specialty in the entire military that trains in the petroleum field. After graduation, students will be capable of serving in positions related to the entire energy support chain, from rear battle depots to the forefront of operations, CCTV reported.

Jiang Xinsheng, a professor from the PLA joint logistics support force engineering university, said on the basis of traditional disciplines such as military energy engineering and chemistry, a new major called new energy science and engineering has been added, which is currently the only one in the entire military. 

Jiang introduced a new energy support vehicle which utilized solar and hydrogen energy under field conditions to provide energy power for operations. Jiang said the university train students on their operational skills to convert solar and hydrogen energy into energy sources under field conditions, to provide power support for our combat equipment.

The military facilities engineering major is one of the flagship majors at the university, mainly training students to have basic task-performing capabilities in wartime support and daily management of military facilities.

Deng Anzhong, a professor from the PLA joint logistics support force engineering university introduced a military underground construction engineering laboratory which is a key laboratory for the entire military. 

"Its role is to provide scientific and technological support for military facilities and battlefield facilities, for example, some border defense facilities under extreme harsh conditions in high-altitude and cold areas, as well as underground, positions, and bunker facilities for major national defense projects," Deng said.

Deng also introduced a testing equipment, designed to study how to improve the protective capabilities of military engineering, such as bullet detection and the impact of explosion shock waves, to provide better protection for personnel and equipment in military engineering projects.

The state media also visited the university's smart warehousing service training center, where students placed orders through computer systems. The entire operation process, from warehousing to allocation of storage spaces, and then to outbound logistics, including packing, unpacking, and repacking, is largely automated and intelligent.

According to Lin Yong, an instructor at the university, the military logistics major trains junior command and technical officers in military logistics and warehouse management. "Through the study of this major, students will possess basic task-performing capabilities in the use of logistics support equipment, organizational command, and training management," Lin said.

According to China's Ministry of National Defense, the PLA joint logistic support force engineering university is formed from the Army Logistics University, the main campus of the Army Military Transportation University, with its main campus located in Southwest China's Chongqing.

The CCTV reporters also visited the PLA information support force engineering university on Saturday, seeing how students coordinated reconnaissance drones, attack drones and ground transport robotic dogs to conduct a drill attack. The cadets first dispatched reconnaissance drones to quietly lock onto the "enemy's" position and send attack drones to hit targets precisely. And the ground transport robotic dogs silently carried ammunition, neatly avoiding the risk of exposing the transporters.

The PLA information support force engineering university has been established based on the College of Information and Communication of the National University of Defense Technology and the communication institute of the Army Engineering University of PLA, with its main campus located in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province.

The PLA university for branches of the army has been formed on the basis of the Army Academy of Armored Forces and the PLA Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense with its main campus located in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province.

Global Times