69 Strong Teams Compete Together: What Makes Them the Best in the Army

“First place in the overall team results

the 76th Group Army's certain brigade!”

When the chief judge announced the final results

the competitors from the Iron Fist Brigade

embraced tightly

the tension and fatigue of recent days

transformed in this moment

into tears of excitement and cheers

……

In midsummer

the first

“Bee Shadow 2026”

military-wide micro-drone innovation application challenge

concluded in Shijiazhuang, Hebei

As the only representative team from the Western Theater Command Army

the brigade's officers and soldiers

competed alongside 69 strong teams from the entire military

overcoming challenges one after another

and ultimately secured first place in the overall team results

while also winning first prize in the urban combat application subject

and second prize in the timed equipment adjustment and operation subject

During the three-day competition

from timed equipment adjustment and operation to low-altitude obstacle breaching

from single-unit precise control to multi-drone coordinated strikes

all subjects were set to align with real combat needs

testing the officers and soldiers' comprehensive abilities in drone assembly and debugging

battlefield emergency repairs, tactical applications, etc.

“The competition is not just about control skills

but also about the team's collaborative combat mindset”

team member Zhang Donghai introduced

The pace of the event was fast, and the intensity was high

the entire team's command was smooth, and the division of labor was clear

steadily widening the gap and maintaining the lead

In the finals

facing strong opponents

the team members remained calm and composed, daring to fight and compete

successfully completing all assessment content

demonstrating excellent

equipment control levels

and real combat coordination qualities

The confidence in winning

comes from day-to-day rigorous training

the main pilots for the low-altitude obstacle breaching subject

Wu Shirong and Zhang Hongchuan

during the preparation period

maintained over 10 hours of flight training daily

when encountering operational bottlenecks

the two would review training videos frame by frame

focusing on details and finding loopholes

compressing time second by second

In the preliminary round

they respectively advanced to the finals with

fourth and sixth place individual results

Independent innovation is the key to the team's breakthrough

“A one-second delay on the battlefield can mean missing an opportunity

the equipment must be extremely reliable”

equipment modification leader Zhang Hongchuan

addressed issues such as the original device's lag

and the time-consuming battery replacement

staying in the equipment room for repeated experiments

optimizing over 20 design plans

after more than a hundred test flights and adjustments

enabled the drone to achieve second-level operational continuity

ensuring the equipment's stable performance

in a high-intensity competition environment

To get closer to real combat

the team members actively left

the well-equipped simulated training ground

and conducted multi-drone joint training

in complex environments for a long time

conducting area searches, coordinated strikes

and emergency replacements……

In environments with strong signal interference

and many obstacles

repeatedly honing their skills

allowed team members to handle each subject with ease

Stepping down from the podium

the team members did not dwell in joy

“Under high-pressure environments, psychological resilience

and on-the-spot adaptability

still have room for improvement”

Zhang Donghai admitted

In the future

they will actively set up

complex and sudden emergency situations

and regularly conduct stress training

to fill the gaps in real combat capabilities

“The competition field connects to the battlefield

training aims at winning”

team leader Officer Xiong Lianguo stated

all team members

will transform the accumulated

modification experience and collaborative tactics from the competition

into motivation for training

deepening tactical innovation

and solidly fulfilling the mission of preparing for combat

Congratulations to them

keep up the good work

Authors: Fei Jiakai, Rong Zhonghui, Jia Qiangyun