Live firing exercise for Chinese army near its Djibouti base.

The Djibouti Logistic Support Base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army conducted a live-fire exercise with combat vehicles including the ZTL-11 fire support armoured vehicle and ZBL-09 wheeled IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle). Several wheeled tank destroyers and infantry fighting vehicles from the base in the Horn of Africa took part in the military exercise at a local shooting range and fired dozens of ammunition.

Chinese army performs live firing exercise with ZTL-11 105mm fire support vehicle near its military base in Djibouti.(Source picture Chinese MoD)

Infantry units from the Chinese army practiced assault maneuvers with armored vehicles. It quoted Senior Captain Liang Yang, commander of the base, as saying that the move was intended to verify the combat capability of troops and their weapons and to improve their adaptability in the local environment.

The PLA established its Djibouti Logistic Support Base, the first of its kind for the Chinese military, on July 11 and put it into formal operation on August 1.

Located in Djibouti City, the African nation's capital, the base will support the Chinese military's naval escort, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Africa and western Asia, the Navy said. It will also help China improve its capabilities in international military cooperation, joint exercises, emergency evacuations and overseas rescue.

The ZTL-11 is a combat vehicle based on a 8x8 military chassis. The vehicle is also referred as ZTL-09, a fire support vehicle which is fitted with a two man turret armed with a 105mm cannon. It has a crew of four, including commander, driver, gunner and loader.

The ZBL-09 is a wheeled infantry armoured fighting vehicle designed and manufactured by the Chinese Defense Company NORINCO China North Industries Corp. The ZBD-09 is fitted with a two man turret, armed with an Ukrainian modified 30 mm automatic gun. A 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun is fitted to the left side of the 30 mm gun. To each side of the turret is mounted a launcher system, for the wire-guided Hong Jian-73C anti-tank guided missiles.