PR of the day: "Long Live the Sino-Vietnam Friendship"

Chinese naval fleet starts friendly visit to Vietnam

Source
    Xinhua
Editor
    Dong Zhaohui

Time
    2017-05-06



HO CHI MINH CITY, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval fleet on Saturday arrived at Ho Chi Minh City in south Vietnam for a four-day friendly visit to the Southeast Asian country.

At 10:00 am (0300 GMT), two Chinese naval ships, missile destroyer Changchun and missile frigate Jingzhou, docked at the Saigon Port in Ho Chi Minh City, and were warmly received at a welcome ceremony held by the Vietnamese navy.

After the ceremony, representatives of Vietnamese navy, Chinese embassy and consulate in Vietnam, Chinese enterprises, Chinese students studying in Vietnam and overseas Chinese in Vietnam visited the Changchun missile destroyer.

Commander of the Chinese navy fleet Shen Hao is expected to meet Vietnamese military and civilian officials. The two sides will hold a series of activities including receptions on the deck, cultural and sports competitions.

Missile frigate Jingzhou will be open to overseas Chinese in local communities, Vietnamese naval officers and soldiers.

15th Airborne Corps' new ORBAT

The CMC decommissioned three divisional headquarters (43rd, 44th and 45th) on April 19th,  their regiments are now reformed into 6 brigades (127th, 128th, 130th, 131st, 133rd, and 134th) directly under the corps headquarters .   Additionally,  there will be a new SpOps Brigade , a Strategic Support Brigade (Engineering, Communication, etc) and an Aviation Brigade(Fixed And Rotary Wing Aircraft) bringing to a total of 9 line brigades. 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

PR Photos of the day: Vertical assault of an PLAAF airborne battalion combined arms battlegroup

Monday, January 18, 2010

15th Airborne Corps (ABC) is testing their vertical envelopment/air mobility capability

The 15th ABC's organic helicopter regiment was first revealed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake rescue work and then by a high profile fly-by during the 60th national day celebration.

It is now time for the 15th to test its newly found air mobility assault capability in a large military exercise. The advantage of air mobile assault over airdrop are many: ranging from entire unit delivery in one place--which immediately allows combat-readiness, precision resupply landings, to on-station fire support from helicopter gunships. In time, it will be interesting to see if a small portion of the 15th ABC will be converted into air-cavalry to enhance the corps' mission profile.

Airborne troops in training

(Source: China Military Online) 2010-01-18
http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/photo-reports/2010-01/18/content_4119686.htm
Air-ground coordination

　 　Since the beginning of the training of the new year, a troop unit of the airborne force under the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has organized the comprehensive exercise of live shell, actual-airdrop and actual-explosion strictly in accordance with the new Outline of Military Training and Evaluation. During the exercise, it stressed training on such subjects as command and control, airborne landing and airdrop, fire strike and comprehensive support, in a bid to enhance the core military capability of the troops. Shown in the pictures are some scenes of the troop unit in training.

　　By Wang Haitao

Editor:Yang Ru

The Group Army is dead, long live the Group Army!

The PLA reform takes another giant step this week -- the surviving Group Armies will be re-organized into 13 larger and more powerful outfits, their number would range from 71st to 83rd (Here).  Yup, the lineage of all those well-known GAs, such as the 42nd, 38th, 39th, 1st, and 13th, are now at an end, not with a bang but a whimper

China to regroup PLA Army

Source
    Xinhua
Editor
    Zhang Tao
http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/view/2017-04/27/content_7580712.htm

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Central Military Commission has decided to reorganize the Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Defense Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun said Thursday.

Yang said that 13 army groups will be formed from the previous 18.

The move is a crucial step to build a strong and modernized new-type army and is important to shifting the focus of the PLA from quantity to quality and efficiency, he said.

In response to a question on reform of military academies and research institutions, Yang said that the reform aims to adapt to the new command system and military structure, as well as to provide talent and theoretical and technological support to the building of a first-class military force.

The reform is now underway, he added.

PLA group armies to get greater role
SourceGlobal Times
EditorYao JianingT
ime2017-04-25

Air force, navy, Rocket Forces to be included in group armies: expert

A largely overlooked official report has uncovered the latest changes in China's group armies, which suggests the groups will consist of different corps in the future, experts said.

The 76th Group Army is the newest designation of China's group armies made public after China announced a military reshuffle with 84 newly adjusted or established corps-level units, news site caixin.com reported.

A notice released by the government of Gaotai county, Northwest China's Gansu Province on April 18 said Wang Kai, vice chief-of-staff of the Western Theater Command of People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Cao Junzhang, the vice commander of PLA's 76th Group Army, visited a local Red Army museum.

Both Wang and Cao are from the 13th Group army which used to be part of the former Chengdu Military Region, caixin.com reported.

"The change in designation is significant. In the past, armies only included the PLA army, but in the future, the air force, navy and Rocket Forces will also be included in the group armies and given a new designation," Song Zhongping, a military expert who served in the Second Artillery Corps (now known as the PLA Rocket Force), told the Global Times on Monday.

The previous designation, which only belonged to the army, is not suitable for the new group army, and the new group armies will be considered a big unit command during war, Song said.

This will fundamentally change the structure of China's military, according to Song.

The group armies are the main part of the PLA, and its structure, duty and combat capabilities will be changed significantly after this reform, but the reform takes time, and the change in designation is just the first step, Song elaborated.

The reform is not limited to the PLA Army. An anonymous PLA Navy officer told the Global Times that the 1st Group Army's 1st Division will be commissioned in the PLA Navy's Marine Corps, and this division will be in charge of offensives after Marine landing operations.

The Global Times has received no official confirmation of this information.

http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/view/2017-04/25/content_7575815.htm

Friday, March 31, 2017

40th Group Army, decommissioned.

It has been confirmed that the HQ of the 40th Group Army (GA) is now history. Its organic units with high readiness rate and newer TOE will likely be merged with neighboring GAs.  Such as the 118th Combined Arms 8x8 Light Mechanized Infantry Brigade will likely to be part of the 39th GA moving forward.. Others units such as 119th and 191st Motorized Infantry Brigades with their older TOE will will probably be disbanded all together.

According to South China Morning Post,  the 14th, 16th, 20th, 47th, and 27th HQs will be decommissioned next.

Thanks Andrew KC and  Forbin for the confirmation.

Graphic credit goes to South China Morning Post

Photos of the day: A glimpse inside a PLAN Type039A (Yuan-Class) submarine.

The Yuan class is currently the workhorse of PLAN's diesel-electric submarine fleet.  Surprisingly, internal photos of this class is rare, so here are some.

 Nice SLR Camera

China's retired nuclear-powered submarine opens to public

　　The decommissioned "Long March-1" nuclear-powered attack submarine, pennant number 401, berths at the port of the Chinese Navy Museum in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province, on April 23, 2017. As China's first domestically-produced nuclear-powered submarine, it was built in 1970 and commissioned into the PLA Navy in 1974. After 40 years of service, it was decommissioned in October, 2013. The vessel is now open to the public at the Chinese Navy Museum at the Port of Qingdao City, East China's Shandong Province. (81.cn/ Lai Yonglei)

Chinese Domestic Aircraft Carrier Launched!

This morning in Dalian the first 100% domestic-produced aircraft carrier was launched. This new ship is "001A Class", representing a Chinese reinterpretation of the Soviet "Kuznetsov Class" design. This launch brings the total number of Chinese carriers in the water to two. Previously Dalian shipyard completed and launched CV16 LIAONING (ex-VARYAG) after a deep study of its design.

Comparison of bow view, 001 LIAONING vs 001A CV17:

Video of launch sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQzIAnkPNkY

Congrats PLAN!

Photo of the day: CV17 Shandong 4/11/2017

The predicted launch date of April 23rd (the 68th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Navy) seems completely possible.