[🇨🇳] China Army

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Source : https://twitter.com/zspcl/status/1779332927001948332

Gunship Helicopter ....

 

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The People's Liberation Army Ground Force is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army and the largest and oldest branch of the entire Chinese armed forces.

The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927 as the Chinese Red Army; however, it was not officially established until 1948.

In February 1949, the existing large number of armies and divisions were regularized into up to seventy armies of three divisions each. While some, such as the 1st Army, survived for over fifty years, a number were quickly amalgamated and disestablished in the early 1950s. It appears that twenty per cent or even more of the seventy new armies were disestablished up to 1953; in 1952 alone, the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Armies were disbanded.

The PLA ground forces consist of conventionally armed main and regional units, which in 1987 made up over 70 percent of the PLA. It provided a good conventional defense, but in 1987 had only limited offensive potential and was poorly equipped for nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare.

Main forces included about 35 group armies, comprising 118 infantry divisions, 13 armored divisions, and 33 artillery and antiaircraft artillery divisions, plus 71 independent regiments and 21 independent battalions of mostly support troops. Regional forces consisted of 73 divisions of border defense and garrison troops plus 140 independent regiments.

Under the old system, a field army consisted of three partially motorized infantry divisions and two regiments of artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. Each field army division had over 12,000 personnel in three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one armored regiment, and one anti-aircraft artillery battalion. Organization was flexible, the higher echelons being free to tailor forces for combat around any number of infantry divisions.

At least theoretically, each division had its own armor and artillery — actual equipment levels were not revealed and probably varied — and the assets at the army level and within the independent units could be apportioned as needed.

 

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In the 21st century, the PLA Ground Forces are continuing to undergo significant reform, experimentation, modernization, and restructuring to deal with potential threats and enhance their capabilities. Divisions are downsized into combined arms brigades, which reorganized into high-readiness army groups.

The division echelon is phased out with only a limited number of division structures remaining existent. While the size of the PLA Ground Force has been reduced over the past few decades, technology-intensive elements such as special operations forces (SOF), army aviation (helicopters), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and electronic warfare units have all been rapidly expanded.

The latest operational doctrine of the PLA ground forces highlights the importance of information technology, electronic and information warfare, and long-range precision strikes in future warfare. The older generation telephone/radio-based command, control, and communications (C3) systems are being replaced by integrated battlefield information networks featuring local/wide-area networks (LAN/WAN), satellite communications, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based surveillance and reconnaissance systems, and mobile command and control centers.

 

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Organizations

The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) operates under the command authority of the Central Military Commission through theater commands (TC). The People's Liberation Army (PLA) theater commands are joint operation commands that hold extensive control over the PLA Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Rocket Force, and the Strategic Support Force.

Theater commands are defence-orientated tactical, political, and bureaucratic organizations entrusted to operate in different geographic areas of China. They are responsible for developing strategies, tactics, and policies specific to their respective areas, and they are directly in charge of responding to security threats within their assigned regions.

Under each theater command, the Army theater headquarters are responsible for the tactical operations inside the theater and are capable of conducting joint operations with support from other service branches. In parallel to the theater commands, the PLAGF General Staff Department, the headquarter of the Army, holds the dual chain of commands to its units in peacetime, managing administrative tasks and duties. In wartime, it's likely that theater commands will hold the exclusive—command authority over the Army components.

Under the theater commands, each provincial-level government has a correspondent military district (MD) with the same dual chain of command structure as the theater command system. Military district army headquarters are military organs primarily responsible for provincial conscription and demobilization assignments, command of local Militia troops, and command of certain border defense units.

Under the military districts are local commands, which provide the lowest level of military service including meeting recruitment quotas, veteran service, border security checks, and national defense education in their respective county, city, and municipal administrative regions. Aside from the standardized command structure, several military district units are directly subordinated to the Army headquarters, usually in areas PLAGF leaderships deemed sensitive, including Beijing, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang.[9]

The predecessor to the theater command, the military region, was replaced by the current structure after the 2015 reform.

 

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[H3]Commissioned officers[edit][/H3]
The current system of officer ranks and insignia is established in 1988. There are several paths to becoming a commissioned officer, such as joining a military academy, attending reserve officer program, or cadre selection program.

Officers may use Comrade to formally address another member of the military ("comrade" plus rank or position, as in "comrade Colonel", "comrade battalion leader", or simply "comrade(s)" when lacking information about the person's rank, or talking to several service people.)

Title	上将 Shang jiang	中将 Zhong jiang	少将 Shao jiang	大校 Da xiao	上校 Shang xiao	中校 Zhong xiao	少校 Shao xiao	上尉 Shang wei	中尉 Zhong wei	少尉 Shao wei	学员 Xue yuan
Equivalent translation	General	Lieutenant general	Major general	Senior colonel	Colonel	Lieutenant colonel	Major	Captain	First lieutenant	Second lieutenant	Officer cadet
Shoulder insignia

 

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Title	上将 Shang jiang	中将 Zhong jiang	少将 Shao jiang	大校 Da xiao	上校 Shang xiao	中校 Zhong xiao	少校 Shao xiao	上尉 Shang wei	中尉 Zhong wei	少尉 Shao wei	学员 Xue yuan
Equivalent translation	General	Lieutenant general	Major general	Senior colonel	Colonel	Lieutenant colonel	Major	Captain	First lieutenant	Second lieutenant	Officer cadet
Collar insignia

 

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Rank group	高级军士 Gao ji jun shi	中级军士 Zhong ji jun shi	初级军士 Chu ji jun shi	义务兵 Yi wu bing
Title	一级军士长 Yi ji jun shi zhang	二级军士长 Er ji jun shi zhang	三级军士长 San ji jun shi zhang	一级上士 Yi ji shang shi	上士 Shang shi	中士 Zhong shi	下士 Xia shi	上等兵 Shang deng bing	列兵 Lie bing
Equivalent translation	Master sergeant first class	Master sergeant second class	Master sergeant third class	Staff sergeant first class	Staff sergeant	Sergeant	Corporal	Private first class	Private
Collar insignia

 

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Rank group	高级军士 Gao ji jun shi	中级军士 Zhong ji jun shi	初级军士 Chu ji jun shi	义务兵 Yi wu bing
Title	一级军士长 Yi ji jun shi zhang	二级军士长 Er ji jun shi zhang	三级军士长 San ji jun shi zhang	一级上士 Yi ji shang shi	上士 Shang shi	中士 Zhong shi	下士 Xia shi	上等兵 Shang deng bing	列兵 Lie bing
Equivalent translation	Master sergeant first class	Master sergeant second class	Master sergeant third class	Staff sergeant first class	Staff sergeant	Sergeant	Corporal	Private first class	Private
Shoulder insignia

 

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[H3]Heavy equipment[edit][/H3]




Type 99A main battle tank



IS-2 tanks on display at the 10th anniversary of the founding of the PRC in 1959


The PLA Ground Force is heavily mechanized with armored platforms, advanced electronic warfare capability, concentrated firepower, and modern weapon systems that are competitive against Western counterparts. The PLA ground force is divided into highly mechanized heavy, medium, and light combined arms units. Heavy combined arms brigades are armored with main battle tanks and tracked infantry fighting vehicles, medium combined arms brigades are armed with tracked or wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, and light combined arms brigades are mobilized with armored personal carriers, MRAP trucks, or armored cars.[6]

At combined corps level, the PLAGF employs combined arms brigades, heavy artillery systems, medium-range air defense systems, special forces, army aviation units, and various engineering, and electronic warfare support systems. Weapon systems at this level include PLZ-05 howitzer, PCL-181 howitzer, PHL-03/16 multiple rocket launcher, and HQ-16 air defense system. Air assets within the aviation brigade include Z-10 attack helicopter, Z-19 recon helicopter, and Z-20 utility helicopter, etc. Unmanned aerial systems are employed extensively in PLA formations of all types.

At combined arms brigade level, brigade HQ can deploy various combined arms battalions composited with tanks, assault guns, and infantry fight vehicles (IFV) such as the ZTZ-99A tank, the ZBD-04A IFV, the ZBL-08 IFV, the ZTL-11 assault gun, and the CSK-181 MRAP fast-attack vehicle. Fire support, reconnaissance, and air defense battalion are equipped with PLZ-07, PLL-09, PCL-161/171 self-propelled artilleries, PHL-11, PHZ-11 multiple rocket launchers, AFT-9/10 missile carriers, PGZ-09/95, PGL-12/625, HQ-17/A air defense systems, and such as large amount of unmanned aerial vehicles.[8][21][28]

At battalion level, battalion HQ can direct tank company, assault gun company, mechanized infantry company, and firepower company (Chinese: 火力连; pinyin: Huǒlìlián) to provide rapid close-combat maneuver, with support assets including the PCP-001 rapid-firing mortar, PLL-05/PLZ-10 self-propelled gun-mortars, AFT-8 missile carrier, MANPADS, and crew-served weapon systems such as QJG-85 heavy machine gun, PP-87 or newer PBP-172 mortar, QLZ-04 automatic grenade launcher, and HJ-8E wire-guided missile.

Under each mechanized infantry company are standard infantry platoons and a firepower platoon (Chinese: 火力排; pinyin: Huǒlìpái), which is equipped with lightweight mortar, anti-material rifle, 35 mm automatic grenade launcher, various rocket launcher, and heavy machine gun.

At platoon level, a mechanized infantry squad consists of nine infantrymen, in which seven members are dismounted during combat. Infantry squads vary in composition based on the type of combined arms battalions. Medium and light infantry squads equip reusable rocket launchers to improve anti-armor and anti-fortification capability, whereas heavy infantry squads have no squad-level rockets, instead relying upon fire support from the firepower platoon, or their own ZBD-04A infantry fighting vehicle.

 

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[h3]Equipment summary[/h3]
The PLAGF inventory maintains an array of military vehicles.
All figures below are provided by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Auxiliary vehicles such as engineering vehicles, logistics vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles, as well as antiquated and reserved equipment are not included.

Type	Active
Main battle tanks	4,800
Light tanks	1,250
Assault guns	1,200
Infantry fighting vehicles	7,700
Armored personnel carriers	3,950
Amphibious armored vehicles	750
Anti-tank missile carriers	1,125
Tank destroyers	480
Towed anti-tank guns	1,308
Self-propelled artillery	3,180
Towed artillery	900
Self-propelled gun-mortars	1,250
Multiple rocket launchers	1,320+
Surface-to-air missile systems	754+
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns	396
Towed anti-aircraft guns	7,000+
Attack helicopters	320+
Multi-role helicopters	208
Transport helicopters	452

 

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Chinese can offer multiple radars of various applications / ranges to beef up or support the indigenous efforts.
SLC-7
YLC-2E
YLC-12
YLC-16

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The China HQ-9 SAM modern missile are much compact compared to say S-25 Berkut SA-1 guild Soviet Union Golden eagle of 1980s .

HQ-9BE has a modified type Slimmer missile with same length.

Change in missile diameter means that 8x8 launcher can carry 8 missiles instead of 4.

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HQ-9B equips 8 smaller missiles in addition to 4 larger missiles integrated with old system with modified HT-233 target engagement radar & airborne target range upto 300km
Uses 2-stage missiles with TVC; Inertial guidance + mid-course update.
Dual seeker with SARH & IR homing modes.