The "Clear Sky" contest at the International Army Games 2021, or IAG-2021, kicked off in Korla, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Tuesday.

The contest is among teams from China, Russia, Belarus, Egypt, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

The event this year consists of three stages: the "Mastery" race, the "Cooperation" race and the "Combined" race. Participants have to pass a circular route with a distance of 9.5 kilometers for the "Mastery" and the "Cooperation" races and 12 kilometers for the "Combined" race. 

Each team must pass through 12 vehicle obstacles, including a ford and an anti-tank ditch, curve-turns and fire at different types of targets in six firing positions.

The firing involves man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, which are surface-to-air missiles that can be fired by an individual or a small team of people against aircraft. They are designed to protect soldiers on the battlefield from aircraft.

In this contest, all participating countries, except for Russia, used weapons and equipment provided by China.

The Chinese team was selected from a brigade under the PLA 83rd Group Army. For the first time, the Chinese military's navy and air force took part in the "Clear Sky" contest.

The event is not only a test of air defense missile troops' skills of vehicle driving, missile firing and shooting, but also a test of the physical and psychological strength of the participants.

The final results are judged based on obstacle crossing, shooting accuracy and total runtime. Two more "Clear Sky" contests will be held on August 28 and September 1.