The Organizational Structure of the PLAAF

Kenneth W. Allen

Any examination of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) (

^{人民解放军空军}

) must examine its organizational structure (

^体制编制

), answer-ing three fundamental questions: What is the PLAAF’s current organizational structure and what are the historical, theoretical, bureaucratic, and other rea-sons for it?¹ What are the implications of the current organizational structure for the PLAAF’s future development? Finally, how might the PLAAF’s organi-zational structure change in order to operate in a joint conflict?

Introduction

During the 1990s, the PLAAF began purchasing high-tech weapons from abroad, as well as developing and purchasing them domestically, includ-ing combat aircraft (such as the Russian Sukhoi Su–27), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs, such as the SA–10), and radar and electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems that now form the cornerstone of its table of organization and equip-ment (TOE). In order to support these systems, the PLAAF has also begun implementing significant organizational changes that have mirrored similar changes occurring in the rest of the PLA.

Starting in the early 2000s, PLAAF officers began to assume key joint bil-lets, including membership on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Military Commission (CMC), commandant of the Academy of Military Science, commandant and political commissar of the National Defense University, and deputy director billets in the General Staff Department (GSD), General Political Department (GPD), and General Logistics Department (GLD). Although these appointments are impressive, not all of them are permanent PLAAF billets. In addition, the army still dominates the majority of the leadership and working billets in all of these organizations, along with the General Armament Depart-ment (GAD), which has yet to have a PLAAF (or PLA Navy) deputy, and all seven of the Military Region (MR) Headquarters. There are no indications this pattern of army domination will change in the next decade.

Concerning the PLAAF’s branches, one of the most significant orga-nizational changes occurred within the last decade, when the PLAAF redes-ignated its radar branch as a specialty force. Even though the PLAAF’s ECM troops are also considered a specialty force, the PLAAF has consolidated their

administrative structure into a PLAAF Electronic Countermeasures and Radar Department under the Headquarters Department and merged the research and development for the two forces into a single research institute under the Air Force Equipment Research Academy. Yet another significant change occurred in 1993, when the 15^th Airborne Corps upgraded its three brigades to divisions, was designated the lead element for the PLA’s rapid reaction force, and changed from being subordinate to the Guangzhou Military Region Air Force (MRAF) to being directly subordinate to PLAAF Headquarters.² Although the airborne corps still lacks sufficient airlift capabilities, since the early 1990s it has shifted from having primarily an internal security mission to a combined internal and external security mission.

Starting in the late 1990s, the PLAAF began to restructure its academic institution and equipment support structures. To help provide better education to its cadets and meet operational support requirements, the PLAAF consoli-dated several colleges into two universities—Air Force Engineering University (1999) and Air Force Aviation University (2004)—and restructured some of its other colleges—Xuzhou (Logistics) Air Force College, Guilin (Antiaircraft Artillery and Airborne) Air Force College, and flight colleges. At the same time, however, the PLAAF has increased the number of new officers who have grad-uated from the Defense Student (

^国防生

) program at 18 civilian academic insti-tutions. This program is also called the Reserve Officer (

^后备军官

) program.

The goal for 2010 was to have 60 percent of all new officers come from civilian academic institutions, of which two-thirds would come from the Defense Stu-dent Program and one-third from directly recruited civilian college graduates with science and engineering degrees; however, a November 2009 Jiefangjun Bao article stated that the PLA’s officer corps receives about 100,000 graduates per year, of which 70 percent come from military academic institutions and 30 percent from the Defense Student program.³ The number of pilot cadets who have been recruited from civilian college graduates and students rather than from high school graduates and enlisted personnel is also rising. These changes will continue to challenge the size and structure of the PLAAF’s academic insti-tutions and may necessitate further consolidation over the next decade.

Over the past decade, the PLAAF’s logistics support structure has mir-rored changes that have occurred in the GLD, which is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J–4 (Logistics) Directorate. One of the biggest changes occurred in 1998 when the PLAAF’s Logistics Department, which had been responsible for providing maintenance support for all nonaviation equip-ment and weapons systems (e.g., SAMs, AAA, radars), turned over support for all of this equipment, except vehicles, to the PLAAF’s restructured Equipment Department. In addition, during the 2000s, the GLD and PLAAF consolidated

their Quartermaster Department, Materials Department, and Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants (POL) Department into a single Quartermaster, Materials, and POL Department. Even though these organizations have been merged at the top, they remain separated as individual branches at the regiment level.

Concerning the equipment support structure, two major changes have occurred since the late 1990s. The first occurred in 1998, when the PLA estab-lished the GAD and the PLAAF adjusted its existing equipment support struc-ture, so that the restructured Equipment Department took responsibility for developing and supporting all combat equipment and weapons systems, except vehicles, from birth to death. In 2004, the PLAAF also created a new Air Force Equipment Research Academy that became responsible for managing the research and development for all PLAAF combat equipment and weapons sys-tems. There are no indications the equipment support structure, which is fully integrated with the logistics support structure at the regiment and below levels, will change appreciably over the next decade.

Current Organizational Structure

The PLAAF’s organizational structure is a complicated one.⁴ The 2002 and 2008 editions of China’s National Defense state: ⁵

Concerning the PLA Air Force organizational structure, the Air Force practices a leadership system that combines operational command with Air Force building and management. The organizational system consists of Air Force Headquarters, seven Military Region Air Force Headquarters, [deputy] corps- and division-level command posts (CPs), divisions, bri-gades, and regiments. The Air Force [has] four branches—aviation, sur-face-to-air missile (SAM), antiaircraft artillery (AAA), and airborne—plus five types of specialty forces—communications, radar, electronic counter-measures, chemical defense, and technical reconnaissance. The Air Force also has education, research, testing, and training institutions.

According to PLAAF writings, the air force’s organizational structure or military system (

^空军军制

) consists of 11 components, each of which has various subcomponents, some of which overlap.⁶ These are the organizational system (

^组织体制

);⁷ leadership and command system (

^{领导指挥体制}

);⁸ estab-lishment (e.g., table of organization and equipment / TOE) system (

^编制

);⁹ edu-cation and training system (

^{教育训练体制}

);¹⁰ scientific research system (

^科学研

究机构组织体制

);¹¹ political work (

^整治工作

);¹² logistics support (

^{后勤保障体制}

);¹³ equipment management (

^{装备管理体制}

);¹⁴ equipment technical support (

^装备技

术保障

);¹⁵ personnel management (

^人事管理

);¹⁶ and mobilization (

^动员体制

) and reserve forces (

^{后备力量建设}

).¹⁷ Each is subsequently examined.¹⁸

PLAAF Grade Structures

Familiarity with the PLA’s 15-grade and 10-rank structure, which applies to officers and organizations for all the services and branches, is the key to understanding the PLAAF’s organizational structure. The current system became effective in 1988 and is based on ground force terminology. Although this paper refers to the grade and rank system only in passing, it is important to understand the basics of the system as it provides the basis for hierarchical and cross-organizational relationships throughout the PLA.¹⁹

According to PLAAF 2010, there are four key differences between the U.S.

military and the PLA in terms of their use of grade and rank. First and most importantly, in the PLA, rank is not as important as grade. The PLA uses rank insignia primarily as a visual cue to identify an individual’s approximate sta-tus; military grade is the more accurate reflection of one’s status.²⁰ Second, the PLA assigns billets based on one’s grade, not rank. Third, promotion in grade, not rank, is what determines how one moves up the career ladder. For example, moving from senior colonel to major general while remaining in the same grade is not as important as moving from one grade to the next, even if one retains the same rank. Finally, the PLA assigns every organization, not just officers and billets, a grade, as shown in table 4–1. The grade system is what defines the organizational structure and the relationship among organizations.

Organizational System

The PLAAF organizational system includes PLAAF Headquarters (

^空军

/

^军委空军

), seven MRAFs (

^军区空军

), four branches (

^兵种

), operational units (

^作战部队

), and logistics support units (

^{后勤保障部队}

).²² The PLAAF further divides it into two separate systems based on missions (

^任务

) and work char-acteristics (

^工作性质

). The mission-based system is discussed below; the work characteristics system is discussed in the leadership and command section.

The role of PLAAF Headquarters is a crucial one. Unfortunately, no PLA or PLAAF definition or specific information about the overall roles and mis-sions of the headquarters is readily available. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume the role of the headquarters is to conduct “Air Force Building” (

^空军建设

).²³ Air Force Building includes organizing, manning, educating and training, equip-ping, providing logistics and maintenance support, and providing operational, political, and support policy guidance for the strategic, operational, and tacti-cal levels of conflict to the PLAAF during peacetime and wartime.²⁴ While the Party Committee system limits the role of the commander during peacetime, during wartime the commander enjoys expanded responsibilities and authori-ties consistent with his responsibility for implementing the war plan that the Party Committee has already approved during peacetime.

Table 4–1. PLAAF Grade and Rank System*

Grade Primary Rank Secondary Rank

Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman (军委主席) Vice Chairman (^{军委副主席})

None General**

CMC Member (^军委委员) General

Military Region Leader (^{正大军区职}) General Lieutenant General

Military Region Deputy Leader (^{副大军区职}) Lieutenant General Major General

Corps Leader (^正军职) Major General Lieutenant General

Corps Deputy Leader (^副军职) Major General Senior Colonel

Division Leader (正师职) Senior Colonel Major General

Division Deputy Leader (副师长) Colonel Senior Colonel

Regiment Leader (^正团职) Colonel Lieutenant Colonel

Regiment Deputy Leader (^副团长) Lieutenant Colonel Major

Battalion Leader (^正营职) Major Lieutenant Colonel

Battalion Deputy Leader (^副营长) Captain Major

Company Leader (^正连职) Captain 1^st Lieutenant

Company Deputy Leader (^副连长) 1^st Lieutenant Captain

Platoon Leader (排职) 2^d Lieutenant 1^st Lieutenant

* The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) uses the term yizhi liangxian (一职两衔) to refer to one grade with two ranks. Xu Ping, ed., Discussion of Chinese and Foreign Ranks (漫谈中外军衔) (Beijing: Jincheng Press, January 2002), 199. Although most PLA grades have a leader (正职) and deputy leader (副职) grade, they are often lumped together. For example, PLA writings refer to the corps level (军级) or division level (师级), which includes both the leader and deputy leader grades.

** The chairman and civilian vice chairman do not wear military rank insignia.

Although the PLAAF and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) are organized com-pletely differently, table 4–2 provides a rough comparison between their head-quarters structures.

According to the Air Force Encyclopedia, the PLAAF’s mission-based systems consist of four components.²⁵ These are the department system (

^机关

体制

), which is organized into different types and levels;²⁶ the unit system (

^部队

体制

);²⁷ the academic institutions system (

^院校体制

); and the scientific research system (

^科研体制

).

The PLAAF Department System

The department system consists of what the PLAAF calls bumen (

^部门

), which is the generic term for the four first-level departments—Headquarters (

^司令

部

), Political (

^政治部

), Logistics (

^后勤部

), and Equipment (

^装备部

)—and their sub-ordinate second- and third-level departments (

^部

), bureaus (

^局

), divisions (

^处

), offices (

^科

), and/or branches (

^股

). With only a few exceptions where a battalion

has a Headquarters Department, there are no bumen below the regiment level.

The PLAAF has three general categories of bumen, which include administra-tive departments (

^行政部门

), functional/professional departments (

^业务部门

), and operational departments (

^事业部门

). Unfortunately, no clear definition is available for these three categories of departments, and some of them overlap.

Table 4–2. PLAAF and USAF Headquarters Comparison

PLAAF Headquarters USAF Headquarters

[No Civilian/State Component] Secretary of the Air Force

-- Secretariat

Commander and Political Commissar (PC) Command Staff

Chief of Staff of the Air Force Air Staff

5–6 Deputy Commanders/2–3 Deputy PCs [No enlisted advisor]

Vice Chief of Staff

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force

4 Departments A1–A9

7 Military Region Air Forces 9 Major Commands

Based on a review of the terms in various dictionaries, encyclopedias, and interviews with PLA personnel, we can conclude the following: Administrative departments conduct work that affects daily life, such as support and supplies, logistics, and housing. Functional/professional departments conduct work that affects operations, such as the operations, intelligence, training, finance, and health departments. Operating departments is a general category for all func-tional/professional departments (other than finance) that have some degree of financial responsibility, but with limited budgetary responsibility. Examples include military schools, hospitals, warehouses, scientific research organiza-tions, military transportation representative organizaorganiza-tions, and military repre-sentative organizations stationed at factories.

Overall, the department system has not changed appreciably for almost 60 years, and may be compared to a deck of cards with four suits—Headquar-ters, Political, Logistics, and Equipment—that have occasionally shifted a few cards from one suit to the other. It is important to pay attention, however, when a new card appears or an old card shifts to another suit, because such changes do not occur randomly. Each of these is discussed in sequence.²⁸

Headquarters Department. The Headquarters Department (

^空司

) is the highest-level functional and administrative organization within PLAAF

Headquarters that is responsible for what the PLAAF calls “military work” (

^军事

工作

) or “command work” (

^指挥工作

) on behalf of the PLAAF’s Party Committee and leadership.²⁹ Its primary responsibilities include managing unit deploy-ments, battlefield development, and combat command. It is also responsible for the PLAAF’s organizational structure, personnel management, enlisted force personnel records, intelligence, communications, radar, air traffic con-trol, and weather support, as well as researching air force military theory, and managing education and safety. Leadership of the PLAAF’s Headquar-ters Department includes the chief of staff (

^参谋长

), who is the department director, and five deputy chiefs of staff (

^副参谋长

). Each deputy chief of staff is responsible for guiding and monitoring activities in two or more second-level departments.

The Headquarters Department has at least 15 second-level departments, each of which has subordinate third-level departments. These are the Gen-eral Office (

^办公室

), Directly Subordinate Work Department (

^直工部

), Opera-tions Department (

^作战部

), Intelligence Department (

^情报部

), Communications Department (

^通信部

), Military Training Department (

^军训部

), Military Profes-sional Education Department (

^{军事职业教育部}

),³⁰ Military Affairs Department (

^军

务部

), Ground-Based Air Defense Troops Department (

^{地面防空兵部}

), Electronic Countermeasures and Radar Department (

^{电子对抗雷达部}

), Air Traffic Control Department (

^{航空管制部}

), Military Theory Research Department (

^{军事理论研究}

部

), Pilot Recruitment Bureau (

^招飞局

), Technology Bureau (

^技术局

), Weather Bureau (

^气象局

), and Flight Safety Bureau (

^{飞行安全局}

). The PLAAF Headquar-ters’ command post (CP) is subordinate to the Headquarters Department, with the Chief of Staff as its director. Personnel from throughout the Headquarters Department (especially from Operations, as well as relevant personnel from the Logistics and Equipment Departments), man the CP on a rotational basis.³¹

Political Department. The Political Department (

^空政

) is the highest-level leadership, functional, and administrative organization within PLAAF Head-quarters for political work.³² The Political Department is responsible for keep-ing officer personnel records, propaganda, security, education, cultural activi-ties, civil-military relations, Party discipline, and Party organizations within the PLAAF. The leadership of the PLAAF’s Political Department includes the direc-tor (

^主任

) and three deputy directors (

^副主任

). Each deputy director is responsible for guiding and monitoring activities in one or more second-level departments.

The seven primary second-level departments, each of which has several subordinate third-level departments, are the following: Headquarters Department (

^司令部

), Organization Department (

^组织部

), Cadre (Officer Personnel) Depart-ment (

^干部部

), Propaganda Department (

^宣传部

), Security Department (

^保卫部

), Discipline and Inspection Department (

^纪检部

), and Liaison Department (

^联络部

).

Logistics Department. The Logistics Department (

^空后

) is the highest-level leadership, functional, and administrative organization within PLAAF Headquarters for logistics work, which includes overseeing transportation, finances, materials and supplies, POL, and medical care.³³ The leadership of the PLAAF’s Logistics Department includes the director (

^部长

), political com-missar (

^政治委员

/

^政委

), three deputy directors (

^副部长

), one deputy political commissar (

^副政委

), a chief of staff (

^参谋长

) (e.g., director of the Headquarters Department), and director of the Political Department (

^{政治部主任}

). The 12 sec-ond-level departments, each of which has several third-level departments, are the following: Headquarters Department (

^司令部

), Political Department (

^政治部

), Finance Department (

^财务部

), Quartermaster, Materials, and POL Department (

^{军需物资油料部}

), Health Department (

^卫生部

), Military Transportation Depart-ment (

^{军交运输部}

), Airfield and Barracks Department (

^{机场营房部}

), Directly Sub-ordinate Supply Department (

^{直属供应部}

), Air Force National Defense Engi-neering Development Command Department (

空军国防工程建设指挥部

), Audit Bureau (

^审计局

), Real Estate Management Bureau (

^{房地产管理局}

), and Air Force Engineering and Design Research Bureau (

^{空军工程设计研究局}

).

Equipment Department. When the PLAAF was founded in November 1949, it created an Air Force Engineering Department (

^{空军工程部}

) to manage aircraft maintenance; however, in September 1969, it was abolished, leaving the PLAAF with only three first-level departments. Because of significant aircraft maintenance problems during the Cultural Revolution, the PLAAF created the Aeronautical Engineering Department (

^{空军航空工程部}

) on May 1, 1976 as the fourth first-level department with the responsibility of managing aircraft main-tenance and providing representatives at aviation-related factories. In 1992, the name was changed to the Air Force Equipment Technical Department (

^空军装备

技术部

), but it still had the same responsibilities.³⁴ In 1998, the name was changed to the Equipment Department (

^装备部

/

^空装

). At that time, the second-level Equipment Department and Scientific Research Department from the Head-quarters Department, along with the second-level Armament Department from the Logistics Department, were merged into the new Equipment Department.

According to PLAAF 2010, the Equipment Department is the highest-level lead-ership, functional, and administrative organization within PLAAF Headquarters for equipment work, which includes the birth-to-death life-cycle management, repair, and maintenance of all PLAAF weapons systems and equipment.

The leadership of the PLAAF’s Equipment Department includes the director (

^部长

), political commissar (PC), five deputy directors (

^副部长

), one deputy PC, and director of the Political Department (

^{政治部主任}

).

The eight second-level departments (each of which has several third-level departments) are the following: Comprehensive Planning Department (

^{综合计划部}

), which also serves the function of a Headquarters Department;

Political Department (

^政治部

); Field Maintenance Department (

^外场部

);

Scientific Research and Procurement Department (

^{科研订货部}

); Air Materiel Department (

^航材部

); Aviation Engineering Management Department (

^航空

工程管理部

); Armament Common-Use Equipment Department (

^{军械通用装备}

部

); and Air Force Armament General-Use Equipment Military Representa-tive Bureau (

空军军械通用装备军事代表局

).³⁵

PLAAF Unit System

According to Modern Military Organizational Reform Research, which was written by the Academy of Military Science, the PLAAF’s unit system (

^部队

体制

) consists of four components.³⁶ These are the PLAAF’s branches and spe-cialty/specialized forces/units; the PLAAF’s leadership and command tiered structure; the PLAAF’s operational units; and the personnel and force reduc-tions within the PLAAF. The leadership and command tiered structure is dis-cussed later in this text, so the following addresses the other three.

Branches and Specialty Forces. Until the early 2000s, the PLAAF had five branches (

^兵种

)—aviation, SAM, AAA, radar, and airborne.³⁷ This apparently changed in the early 2000s, whereby the PLAAF now has only four—aviation, SAM, AAA, and airborne—plus five types of specialty forces (

^专业部

/

^分队

)—

communications, radar, ECM, chemical defense, and technical reconnaissance.³⁸ Operational Units. Depending on the type of unit, the PLAAF’s branches and specialty forces are organized into divisions, brigades, regiments, battal-ions, companies, platoons, and squads. Today, the only operational corps is the 15^th Airborne Corps, discussed subsequently. Table 4–3 provides an overview of the types of operational units and their headquarters levels.³⁹

Table 4–3. PLAAF Operational Units and Headquarters Levels

  Aviation SAM AAA Airborne Radar

Commun-ications ECM Chemical Defense

Technical Recon-naissance

Corps x

Division x x x

Brigade x x x x x

Regiment x x x x x x x x x

Battalion x x x x x x x x x

Company x x x x x x x x

Platoon x x x

AAA: antiaircraft artillery ECM: electronic countermeasures SAM: surface-to-air missile

According to PLAAF 2010, the PLAAF currently has 29 operational air divisions—20 fighter, 3 ground attack, 3 bomber, and 3 transport divisions. From 1950 to 1971, the PLAAF created 50 operational air divisions that were stationed throughout China. This situation did not change until 1986, when the PLAAF began converting one air division in each of the seven military regions to a

According to PLAAF 2010, the PLAAF currently has 29 operational air divisions—20 fighter, 3 ground attack, 3 bomber, and 3 transport divisions. From 1950 to 1971, the PLAAF created 50 operational air divisions that were stationed throughout China. This situation did not change until 1986, when the PLAAF began converting one air division in each of the seven military regions to a

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