Photos of the day: 6th LH Brigade, 42nd Group Army, Southern Theater Command conducts training in South China Sea

The Taiwan Strait is 180 kilometers wide separating ROC and PRC.   The WZ10 attack chopper has a range of 800 kilometers while the Z-8 heavy-lifer enjoys an additional 100 kilometers to a total of 900. The math is fairly straightforward here.

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

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Next up at the Stride 2015 - Zhurihe A "red-vs-blue" confrontational exercise, 1st Heli-Assault Brigade, Nanjing MR

This is 1st Heli-Assault Brigade's first "baptism of fire" at Zhurihe, China's premier operational level "red vs blue" proving ground. It should be interesting to see how fine-tuned the PLA air assault tactics are after 10 years of trial and error in adopting this new combat operation. 

The 1st Heli-Assault Brigade (or 直升机机降突击旅 in Chinese) started as the 1st Heli-Assault battalion battle group in 2005, expanded into a full assault brigade in 2008. According to its commander 厉振彪 Li ZhenBiao, due to shortage of organic vertical assets, flatbed trucks were pressed into service to simulate airdrops. Their first military exercise was feasible only by 2009 when additional  helicopters found their way to the Nanjing MR.  Despite taking part at this year's Zhurihe, the outfit is still fairly new by PLA standards, doubts about their effectiveness will remain for some time to come.

Here are CCTV captures of its first military exercise in 2009

It's official

Chinese large freighter plane enters military service
Source: XinhuaEditor: Yao Jianing
2016-07-06 14:580

CHENGDU, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Y-20, China's homegrown large transport aircraft, officially joined the People's Liberation Army Air Force on Wednesday.

With a maximum takeoff weight of 200 tonnes, the Y-20 is ideal for transporting cargo and personnel over long distances in diverse weather conditions.

"The Y-20 entering into service marks a crucial step for the Air Force improving its strategic power projection capability," said Air Force spokesperson Shen Jinke.

The Air Force needs more and better transport to better fulfill its military responsibilities, including safeguarding national security as well as domestic and international rescue and relief work, Shen added.

The Air Force has provided aid and delivered relief supplies to Pakistan, Mongolia, Thailand, Nepal and other countries as they were hit by disasters in recent years.

The indigenously designed and developed Y-20 took its maiden flight in January 2013, and made its debut at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in November 2014.

Chen Gang (front), a division commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, takes the oath during the hand over ceremony of the Y-20, China's homegrown large transport aircraft, in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, July 6, 2016. Y-20 officially joined the People's Liberation Army Air Force on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Yinghua)

Rapid reinforcement to Tibet.

Tibet is one of China's largest regions but with only three line brigades protecting it (52nd, 53rd and 54th mountain Brigades), clearly it's ORBAT is not geared for large scale military operations, especially in defense against a foreign power's new mountain strike corps.   To beef up, the PLA high command is shifting its 15th airborne corp for rapid reinforcement from Wuhan in time of crisis, hopeful this will buy time until REGFORCE reinforcements arrive.

Just last week, they conducted a 5000 meter supply and a SpOps insertion drop

 Go Pro!  

Dual-use airports help PLA Air Force cope with emergencies
Source: China Military OnlineEditor: Zhang Tao
2016-07-01 16:550

BIJIE, July 1 (ChinaMil) -- A joint meeting on the development of military-civilian integration of dual-use airports of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was held in Beijing on June 17. The meeting deliberated and passed the "Interim Provisions of Operation Security at Dual-use Airports of the PLA Air Force."

Following the win-win principles for both the military and civilian sides, the provisions aimed at regulating the operating security works at dual-use airports, including the coordination mechanism, joint management, joint support and maintenance. The release of such provisions means that the development of military-civilian integration on airport resources between the PLA Air Force and civil aviation has entered the implementation phase.

The pilot work of such development started at Lhasa Gonggar Airport and Wuxi Shuofang International Airport since April, 2015. Its main purpose was to establish a complementary management mechanism with smooth coordination and shared resources to gradually form a support capability that guarantees flight safety at peace times and meets combat needs at wartimes.
The pilot programs have made significant achievement after the exploration over the past one year. The two airports mentioned above are good examples of dual-use airports.

Lhasa Gonggar Airport is one of the world's highest dual-use airports. It provides important support for Tibet's economic development and national security in China’s Southwestern region.

On the one hand, as an important force in Tibet’s transportation, the airport has made great contributions to Tibet's economic construction. It has safely transported more than six million passengers in total since it was put into use. The cargo throughput also surpassed 140,000 tons.

On the other hand, the airport is an important channel to transport the PLA's new recruits and strategic materials to Tibet. The airport is also a major "airborne bridgehead" in Southwest China.

It has been found that the development of military-civilian integration of dual-use airports has very important practical significance and strategic benefits. First, the dual-use airports greatly save the cost of airport construction. Second, such airports bring great benefits to both the military and civilian sides.

For the PLA Air Force, dual-use airports can significantly improve the support capability of military airports. Such dual use can provide more footholds for the Air Force to deal with emergencies and future operations. For the civil aviation industry, the dual use can greatly lift its transportation capacity, expand the volume of passengers and cargo throughput, and alleviate current shortages in civil airports.

Practice has proved that the construction of dual-use airport is a win-win move. For this reason, construction for this purpose has extended to more airports in China. As of now, China has a total of 214 civil airports, one third of which are dual-use ones.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Photos of the day: 15th Airborne's rapid deployment to Tibet.

Last week a mechanized regiment of 15th Airborne Corp, conducted a battalion size rapid deployment into the Tibetan Plateau.  Here are pictures from this "independent action" exercise.

Historical photos of the day: PLAN Soth China Sea women garrison, circa 1977

YongXing or Woody island, seems so primitive back in those days.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Photos of the day: Fuel stop at Yong Xing Island, South China Sea

With three external fuel tanks, it seems that the JH-7 fighter-bomber has the range to reach out to Yong Xing Island.

Just in case you're wondering, they are from the 32nd Regiment, 11th PLAAF Air Division, Shenyang Military Region.   Shanyang Military is bordered by North Korea.  Perhaps they are vacation, wanting some sun and sand!