Army's (not Navy) Amphibious unit of the day: 1st Combined-Arms Brigade (合成第1旅), 74th Group Army, Southern Theater Command

124th Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division, 42nd Group Army -- one of PLA's elites -- was reformed into two Combined-Arms Brigades during last round of re-org 6 months ago.  Half of the 124th became 1st Combined-Arms Brigade and the other became the 125th Combined-Arms Brigade.  Both are organic to the newly minted 74th Group Army.

Here are some PR photos from their combat readiness maneuver training yesterday:

 Type05 (ZBD-05) Command Variant (note the SatCom radome). This ride longs to the Commander of its 8th Battalion

Type05 (ZBD-05) APC variant (note the 12.7mm HMG mount) 

Sunday, August 13, 2017

PLA orbat update, Southern Theater Command (74th and 75th GA)

 

41st Group Army	74th Group Army	1st Combined-Arms Brigade
		16th Combined-Arms Brigade
		125th Combined-Arms Brigade
		132nd Combined-Arms Brigade
		154th Combined-Arms Brigade
		163th Combined-Arms Brigade
		74th Air-Defense Brigade
		74th Artillery Brigade
		74th Special Ops Brigade
		74th Joint Logistics Support Brigade
		74th Engineering Brigade
42nd Group Army	75th Group Army	31st Combined-Arms Brigade
		32nd Combined-Arms Brigade
		37th Combined-Arms Brigade
		42nd Combined-Arms Brigade
		122th Combined-Arms Brigade
		123rd Combined-Arms Brigade
		121st Air-Assault Brigade
		75th Air-Defense Brigade
		75th Artillery Brigade
		75th Special Ops Brigade
		75th Joint Logistics Support Brigade
		75th Engineering Brigade

 

 

 Thursday, July 27, 2017

PLA orbat update, ex31st Group Army / 73rd Group Army

Again, credit goes to Andrew KC, both photos and updates.

31st Group Army	73rd Group Army	3rd Combined-Arms Brigade
		14th Combined-Arms Brigade
		86th Combined-Arms Brigade
		91st Combined-Arms Brigade
		92nd Combined-Arms Brigade
		73rd Special Ops Brigade
		73rd Air-Defense Brigade
		73rd Artillery Brigade

The 86th Motorized Division of the former 31st GA has been re-organized into two brigades.  One of the brigades here is the 86th Combined-Arms Brigade (合成第86旅) of the 73rd GA, and most of its assets came from the armored regiment of the former 86th Division.   So far the Armored Infantry Battalion's ZBD04's from the former 91st Motorized Division have been consolidated into this new brigade.

 The new 86th Combined-Arms Brigade on the move

 The former 3rd Motorized Infantry Brigade of the former 1st GA is now subordinate to the newly formed 73rd GA.  It is now called the 3rd Combined Arms Brigade (合成第3旅).

The 91st Motorized Infantry Division of the former 31st GA is now the 91st Combined-Arms Brigade (合成第91旅) of the 73rd GA.  The unit is taking on amphibious role with hand-me-down Type 63A amphibious light tanks.  91st's four Combined-Arms Battalions (合成1,2,3,4营) are equipped with  2 companies of Type 63A each.

 91st Combined-Arms Brigade

 91st Combined-Arms Brigade

14th Combined-Arms Brigade 合成第14旅 was the 14th Amphibious Armored Brigade, 31GA, Nanjing MR at Zhangzhou

 14th Amphibious Armored Brigade

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Storming the beach -- 124th Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division

After the much-publicized unveiling of Chinese Zubr offloading a Type96 MBT in July,  the 42nd Group Army, Guangzhou MR conducted another small scale (by Chinese standards) drill two days ago to hone their skills.

 A landing craft air cushion approaches an amphibious dock landing ship during a joint landing training exercise on August 20, 2015. The landing craft air cushion and the amphibious dock landing ship are assigned to a landing ship flotilla under the South China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy.