The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has started preparations for a massive military drill in the second half of this year that involves as many as 50,000 troops, sources from the Headquarters of General Staff said Tuesday.

The drill, dubbed Kuayue-2009, will be undertaken by troops from four military command areas, namely, Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan and Guangzhou.

This is the first time in the history of the PLA that four divisions from four military command areas are taking part in a drill that involves the deployment of troops across different military command areas, the sources said.

The PLA has seven area command areas. The other three are Beijing, Chengdu and Nanjing.

The Air Force and the Army Aviation troop will also send men and various aircraft to take part in the drill, the sources said.

The drill is aimed at assessing and improving the PLA's overall combat capacity in the context of information warfare, the sources said.

It will put to tests the PLA's capacity in command and decision-making, joint operations of land and air troops, operations in complicated electro-magnetic conditions, paratrooper assault operations, simulated battles, and comprehensive exercises by specialist units.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2009)