A battalion attached to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Command receives delivery of a batch of new-generation assault vehicles in 2020. Photo: Sina Weibo account of the PLA Tibet Military Command

China's new-generation off-road assault vehicles have been commissioned into the People's Liberation Army (PLA) border defense troops in large batches, official releases and media reports suggest. The vehicles will give PLA troops operating in high altitude regions high mobility, winning them advantages in stamina and time, analysts said on Tuesday.

A battalion attached to the PLA Tibet Military Command recently received the delivery of a batch of assault vehicles, said the command's Sina Weibo account on Tuesday.

Judging from the photos released by the command, the vehicles are the third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi off-road tactical armored vehicles. At least 12 vehicles were seen in one photo.

In a report by China Central Television (CCTV) on Sunday, a third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi vehicle was seen operating by the PLA border defense troops stationed in the northern slope of the Himalayas, where the oxygen level is less than 40 percent of that in the inland.

Compared with previous two generations, the third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi is larger, more heavily armored and equipped with a more powerful engine that gives it higher mobility even when operation in plateau regions, Shanghai-based news website eastday.com reported on Monday.

These are not the only cases where the third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi is commissioned in the PLA Tibet Military Command. In a video on October 12, the command announced that a batch of the assault vehicles had entered service with border defense troops based in Xigaze, and in May, the vehicle was briefly seen in a CCTV report on a mortar troops unit of the command.

The third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi assault vehicle has begun to enter service with the PLA in large batches after it passed tests and examinations in 2019, a Chinese military expert told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The vehicles have become particularly in handy in border defense. 

A third-generation Dongfeng Mengshi can run on rough roads and arrive in a destination with only 10 minutes that would take an hour on foot, saving stamina and time for the troops, reports quoted the troops stationed in the northern slope of the Himalayas as saying.

It can also be equipped with weapons like heavy machine guns and rockets launchers, giving the troops strong firepower together with high mobility, the expert said.