Chinese Z-10 with additional fuel tanks (Click to expand) Alert 5 via Weibo Alert 5 posts Chinese military hardware pictures straight from the ground, but they can lack context as PLA troops or brave civilians snap photos of classified military manuevers and post to Weibo

Today's featured photo is a Chinese Z-10 attack helicopter saddled with "Ferry Tanks" to fly extra distance and return without refueling. While we can't say where the photo was taken or pinpoint the choppers destination, we did report the PLA earlier this week announced its army aviation unit of attack helicopters were shifting from logistics missions to combat status.

The PLA Daily, China's official military newspaper:

The [helicopter] unit will work on major missions such as long-distance tasks, large scale offshore operations, attack coordination with other units and large scale airborne operations, it said, adding that the unit will also aim to improve its operation capability based on IT technologies.

The English PLA Daily army section has several announcements related to its helicopter units, their accelerated training, and even troops psychological readiness for "military transportation in high-tech wars".

The Ferry Tanks seen in the picture would be particularly useful in long-distance tasks, large scale offshore operations, attack coordination with other units and large scale airborne operations.

Naha, Okinawa with bar scale and regional map inset (Click to expand) Google

If engaged in the Diaoyu/Senkaku island dispute, the Z-10s could be stationed at Air Base Shuimen to the east. Round trip to the islands is out of reach of the Z-10s, without support ships like the Haixun 21 deployed to the South.

But it's possible China's fleet of 48 Z-10s, spread across four attack squadrons of a dozen birds each, could act in some localized support.