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  • Modernization of Fighter Pilot Training in the PLA Air Force Proceeds Apace

    In the past several months, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has reported and released information about new developments in its effort to modernize the PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) training of prospective fighter pilots. One of the institutions that conduct that training, the Shijiazhuang

  • ITOW: Air Force Tactical Logistics

    The “In Their Own Words” series is dedicated to translations of Chinese documents in order to help non-Mandarin speaking audiences access and understand Chinese thinking. CASI would like to thank all of those involved in this effort. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim

  • Army Fuel Keeps Air Force Aircraft Flying

    In mid-February it was reported that a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was receiving aviation fuel and other supplies from a supply base of the PLA Army. The report provides more evidence that the PLA is improving its joint logistics capability, as previously assessed by

  • Status of the 41st Aviation Brigade transition to the J-20

    By late last fall, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) 41st Aviation Brigade active out of Wuyishan Airbase in Fujian province appeared to be transitioning to the J-20. Commercial satellite imagery from 29 November 2023 shows six J-20 airframes in the open at Wuyishan Airbase. This

  • Survey of PRC Drone Swarm Inventions

    This work builds upon CASI’s 2018 The PLA’s Unmanned Aerial Systems: New Capabilities for a “New Era” of Chinese Military Power by Elsa Kania1 and is intended to specifically address the Chinese capacity for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm innovation, tactics, and mission sets.In December 2018,

  • PLA Naval Aviation Reorganization 2023

    In early 2023, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began transferring PLA Navy Aviation units to the PLA Air Force. By mid-2023, the PLA transferred the majority of PLAN fighter, bomber, radar, air defense, and airfield units to the PLA Air Force (PLAAF). In total, the PLA transferred at least three

  • The PLA Reconceptualizes Control of the Air

    The PLA is now promoting a more nuanced and modern understanding of control of the air. Consequently, the PLA is unlikely to seek command of the air in future military campaigns, and it is likely to reduce its spatial and temporal requirements for control of the air as its capabilities to conduct

  • The PLA Hopes B-21 Will Follow in B-2’s Footsteps

    The B-21 was unveiled to the public on December 2, 2022. In the following two months several assessments of the B-21 were published in the media of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Almost all the articles avoided assessing the capabilities of the B-21

  • PLA Air Force Expands Fourth-Generation Transition Training to Another Academy

    Late in December 2022 the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indicated that the training of pilots transitioning from trainers to fourth-generation fighters has expanded to another of the PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) flight academies. Consequently, two of the PLAAF’s three flight academies are now conducting

  • The Centralization of the PLA Air Force’s Basic and Technical Training

    Initial entry training is a major undertaking for any armed force, but China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) faces a unique set of challenges based on its enlisted force’s large size, relatively short service commitments, and high proportion of technical requirements. Although the

  • Sichuan Tengden Technology: Privately Owned, State Sponsored

    Traditionally, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) acquires whole systems that are manufactured or integrated by companies partially- or wholly-owned by the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that fall under the State Administration for Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND). It

  • CASI Webinar on the PLA Air Force

    In March of 2022, CASI hosted a webinar focused on the PLA Air Force.  We were honored to host Cristina Garafola, Derek Solen, and Eli Tirk for this session.You can watch the video on DVIDS at: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/851247/casi-webinar-plaafOr on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/ZukCJvY8l4s

  • PLA Air Force: Bomber Force Training

    Bomber Unit TrainingThis paper provides information about bomber pilot training with a focus on daily training and over-water training in the Western Pacific and South China Sea, as well as participation in the Golden Dart competition in China and the Aviadarts component of the International Army

  • PLA Air Force Bomber Force Organization

    This report provides an overview of the organization of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) Bomber force.According to the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s

  • Competition with China: The PLA Air Force

    Part of CASI's "Competition With China" video series which helps Airmen better understand the strategic competition with China broadly, and takes a deep look at many of the military and security aspects of that competition. CASI uses source documents to research and report on China’s aerospace

  • Third Combat Brigade of PLA Air Force Likely Receives Stealth Fighters

    On 9 December the Dutch Aviation Society’s website Scramble reported that a J-20 bearing the serial number 61162 had been spotted the day before. The J-20 is the first and only fifth-generation fighter that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force operates. Judging from this serial

  • Commentary on ADIZ issues and the PRC

    Dr. Mulvaney discusses increased flight activity by the PLA in the Taiwan ADIZ and in the South China Sea at the Habibie Center's Talking ASEAN Webinar on "Air Force Intrusions in the Indo-Pacific Airspace: Impacts on Regional Peace and Stability from ASEAN Perspective"A big thank you to Ken Allen