Belarus-China Forces Practise Seizing an Airport in Belarus

Chinese and Belarusian troops conducted the joint military training exercise, “Attacking Falcon,” in Belarus between Monday and Friday last week, July 15 - 19. The high point of the combined maneuvers, which included a nighttime parachute drop, was an assault on Wednesday to “recapture” an airport that had been taken over by terrorists.

Held near the city of Brest, close to Poland and just 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Ukraine. According to the Belarus defense ministry account the airport operation saw the troops deploying drones to surveille the enemy positions before paratroopers deployed in armored Mi-8MTV-5 helicopters and joined up with a ground forces to secure the objective.

On July 18, the Chinese defense ministry provided a detailed account of the exercise, saying that the exercise proceeded “smoothly” and saw the “seamless coordination,” “solid training,” and “high level of trust” between the Chinese and Belarusian forces.

The joint exercise took place shortly after the NATO Heads of State Summit in Washington DC, the final declaration of which expressed “profound concern” over China’s support for Russia and, by implication Belarus, which has been a staunch supporter of Moscow since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is now hosting Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons on its territory.

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The holding of “Attacking Falcon” was declared around the same time as Belarus became the 10th member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). A Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Guard of Honor also took part in a July 3 military parade in Minsk that commemorated the 80th anniversary of Belarus’s liberation during World War II. The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defense organization established by China and Russia in 2001.

Some military commentators suggest that, despite the counter-terrorism scenario for the airport seizure, could have been used to practice techniques that would be necessary to capture airports in Taiwan to establish a bridgehead for follow-on troops should China decide to invade.