Air force puts elite pilots' skills to the test

The Chinese air force is strengthening pilots' combat readiness by staging an increasing number of drills based on realistic training scenarios.

In the past two weeks, 170 elite aviators from 19 air brigades and regiments of the People's Liberation Army air force took part in a drill over an unidentified desert in northwestern China.

This year's event, the fourth to be staged, was the largest aerial combat drill in the history of the PLA air force and featured the highest level of Chinese fighter jet pilots, the air force said.