By Si Lilong and Zang Chenyu

BEIJING, Oct. 27th -- In a flood prevention and rescue drill held by militia detachments in central China's Hunan Province in mid October, new equipment including commanding vehicles, communication supporting vehicles and reconnaissance drones appeared together and displayed fully their prowess , rendering the drill of a full-on “hi-tech style”.

In recent years, a large number of new-quality militia forces with multiple high-tech capabilities such as information and communication technology, surveying and mapping, navigation, as well as meteorological and oceanographic observation have been set up in different parts of China. The militia detachments equipped with science and technology have become an essential force in military operations other than war (MOOTW).

In south China’s Guangdong Province, the militia network detachments in many cities select their members from local high-tech enterprises.

In central China’s Hubei Province, the local high-tech enterprises contribute their staffs to militia detachments of expertise such as electromagnetic spectrum and meteorological observation and radar. Some high-tech enterprises have signed agreements with local governments on the advance requisition of large military-civil general-purpose equipment.

Chongqing Municipality in southwest China has established militia units for emergency responses in the fields of network defense, air surveillance and rescue, and steel bridge erection for combat readiness, and more than 85% of the members in these militia units are professionals from high-tech enterprises.

In Xichang City, Sichuan Province, civil rescue teams equipped with rescue devices have been grouped in local militia emergency response detachments responsible for forest fire fighting and geological disaster rescue missions.

And, in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic this year, in Shanghai, Henan and Jiangsu provinces, militia units equipped with drones were dispatched to conduct aerial spraying of disinfectants.