PLAAF Unit System

According to Modern Military Organizational Reform Research, which was written by the Academy of Military Science, the PLAAF’s unit system (ИРРА ІФФІ) consists of four components.36 These are the PLAAF’s branches and spe – cialty/specialized forces/units; the PLAAF’s leadership and command tiered structure; the PLAAF’s operational units; and the personnel and force reduc­tions within the PLAAF. The leadership and command tiered structure is dis­cussed later in this text, so the following addresses the other three.

Branches and Specialty Forces. Until the early 2000s, the PLAAF had five branches (й#)—aviation, SAM, AAA, radar, and airborne.37 This apparently changed in the early 2000s, whereby the PLAAF now has only four—aviation, SAM, AAA, and airborne—plus five types of specialty forces (^ФпР/^чРА)— communications, radar, ECM, chemical defense, and technical reconnaissance.38

Operational Units. Depending on the type of unit, the PLAAF’s branches and specialty forces are organized into divisions, brigades, regiments, battal­ions, companies, platoons, and squads. Today, the only operational corps is the 15th Airborne Corps, discussed subsequently. Table 4-3 provides an overview of the types of operational units and their headquarters levels.39

According to PLAAF 2010, the PLAAF currently has 29 operational air divisions—20 fighter, 3 ground attack, 3 bomber, and 3 transport divisions. From 1950 to 1971, the PLAAF created 50 operational air divisions that were stationed throughout China. This situation did not change until 1986, when the PLAAF began converting one air division in each of the seven military regions to a divi­sion-level transition training base (&ШШШМШ). Since then, the PLAAF has gradually reduced the remaining 43 operational air divisions to 29. While most of these divisions have only two subordinate regiments, some have three. The PLAAF also has several independent helicopter and transport regiments. As a general rule, a division can have more than one model of aircraft, but each regi­ment has the same model for training, logistics, and maintenance support pur­poses. The reduction in the number of divisions has taken place in order to incor­porate new types of aircraft, retire older aircraft, meet new mission requirements, and reduce personnel. Although there are fewer aircraft today, their capabilities far exceed those of the F-6, A-5, and earlier versions of the F-7, F-8, and B-6.40

In December 2011, the PLAAF began creating air brigades (КЙЙШ) in at least the Shenyang, Lanzhou, Nanjing, and Guangzhou MRAFs. Each bri­gade has several subordinate battalion leader-grade flight groups (^T^PA), which are most likely treated as regiments. The goal is to have each flight group equipped with a different type of aircraft, including trainers, ground attack, and fighters, so that the air brigade is multifunctional.41 As of early 2012, it was not yet clear if these brigades are upgraded regiments, downgraded divisions, or a combination of both.

The airborne force, the 15th Airborne Corps, consists of three subordinate divisions, each of which is organized into regiments, battalions, and companies. The three divisions are composed of infantry, motorized infantry equipped with light vehicles, mechanized infantry, artillery, air defense (AAA and SAM), special operations, communications, special forces, reconnaissance, engineering, helicop­ter, training, and logistics support.42 Unfortunately, no authoritative information is available about the SAM or AAA order of battle in terms of numbers and types of units or numbers of missiles and guns. However, according to the Department of Defense’s 2010 report on the PLA, “The PLAAF has continued to expand its inven­tory of long-range, advanced SAM systems and now possesses one of the largest such forces in the world.”43 The report does not discuss the PLAAF’s AAA force.

Number of Personnel. The PLAAF has not provided public information about the current number of personnel, including the number and percentage of officers and enlisted personnel by rank; however, Xu Guangyu, a retired PLA major general from the General Staff Department, published an article in July 2010 that states the PLAAF constitutes about 12 percent of the 2.3 million-man PLA, which equates to 276,000 personnel.44 Since 1949, the PLAAF has imple-

mented 10 force reductions all of which were part of larger PLA force

reductions. While some of the reductions affected the entire force, others focused strictly on certain levels of headquarters. Although the figures available in differ­ent PLA sources are often inconsistent, it appears that, in September 1953, the PLAAF increased its personnel from the existing 210,000 to 257,000. PLAAF reporting states that, in 1972, it had its highest number of personnel, but the number was not specified. By the end of 1976, the force was somewhere between 16.4 percent and 26.9 percent less than 1972.45 Since then, the PLAAF has aver­aged force reductions of 10-20 percent each time the PLA has instituted a force reduction.46 Again according to Xu Guangyu, the PLA will reduce its force in stages over the next 20 years to about 1.5 million, which will result in a reduction in the army’s percentage and an increase in the PLAAF’s percentage.47

According to PLAAF 2010, all PLAAF officers serve in one of five possi­ble career tracks: military officer (^^^g, also identified as the command offi­cer track), political officer (ЙП^Ю, logistics officer (йй¥Ш), equip­

ment officer (^g^g), and technical officer (S^¥W). These career tracks are not further broken down into Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) similar to the USAF’s personnel system. Depending on the career track, they are assigned to all PLAAF organizations, including headquarters, operational, support, research, and academic organizations.48 Military officers serve as unit commanders, dep­uty commanders, and staff officers (#Ш) in the Headquarters Department. They are responsible for operations, intelligence, training, unit organizational structure, enlisted force records, and communications. Political officers serve as unit politi­cal commissars (PCs), deputy PCs, and staff officers (T#) in the Political Depart­ment. They are responsible for conducting all political work, which includes that related to keeping officer personnel records, propaganda, security, cultural activ­ities, civil-military relations, Party discipline, and Party organizations. Logistics officers serve as the director, deputy director, and staff officers (#Ш) in the unit’s Logistics Department. They are responsible for managing logistics support, which includes overseeing transportation, finances, materials and supplies, POL, hous­ing, airfields, and medical care. Equipment officers serve as the director, deputy director, and staff officers (#Ш) in the unit’s Equipment Department. They are responsible for managing the development, acquisition, maintenance, and repair of all equipment and weapons systems. They also serve as representatives in civil­ian research institutes and factories that develop and produce aviation systems and equipment. Technical officers serve primarily as engineers, weapons system and equipment maintenance and repair officers, computer technicians, academics, and doctors. A high percentage of civilian college graduates who join the PLAAF as officers serve in this track. The grouping based on work characteristics con­sists of four systems, which equate to four of the five officer career tracks, and are aligned with the four departments:49 military (command) leadership system (¥♦ Й#Ф®1); political leadership system (Й/пЙ#Ф®1); logistics leadership system (ЙЖЙ^ФФО and equipment leadership system (^^Й^ФФІ).