People's Liberation Army Ground Force Aviation

The People's Liberation Army Ground Force Aviation is the air arm of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force. Its principal mission is to provide close air support, air assault, transportation, and overall air assistance to the Ground Force. It primarily deploys rotary wing aircraft.^[1]

People's Liberation Army Ground Force Aviation
中国人民解放军陆军军航空兵
Badge of the PLAGF Aviation
Active	1987–present
Country	China
Branch	People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Type	Army aviation
Size	? personnel 1040+ aircraft
Part of	People's Liberation Army
Aircraft flown
Attack helicopter	Harbin Z-19, Changhe Z-10
Cargo helicopter	Mil Mi-17
Multirole helicopter	Harbin Z-9, Harbin Z-20
Utility helicopter	Changhe Z-8, Changhe Z-18, Mil Mi-17
Reconnaissance	BZK-005, BZK-007, WZ-7 Soaring Dragon
Transport	Y-7, Y-8, Y-9

History

The PLA Army Aviation Corps was established on October 3, 1986, by decision of the Central Military Commission, at the time under the leadership of its chairman Deng Xiaoping, as part of an effort to modernize the organization of the PLA. The Corps started operating in 1987.^[2] On January 8, 1988, the first army aviation unit was established in the Beijing Military Region.

The initial units of the army aviation corps used equipment transferred from the PLAAF, including mostly the first Chinese-made helicopter, the Harbin Z-5 (a version of the Mil Mi-4), the licensed-made Z-8 (a version of the French Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon) and the American-made S-70C "Black Hawk" purchased during the Sino-American thaw of the 1980s. The success of the American attack helicopters during the Gulf War impressed the Chinese military command, which put more emphasis on the development of indigenous helicopters. This accelerated program would lead to the introduction in 1994 of the Harbin Z-9 (developed from the French Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin), the Harbin Z-19 (an armed variant of the Z-9, introduced in 2012), the medium attack Changhe Z-10 (introduced in 2012), and the medium utility helicopter Harbin Z-20 (generally based on the Black Hawk in configuration, introduced in 2019).

The progress of the local helicopter industry, however, was slow. The difficulty providing relief after the Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008 brought into clear relief the shortage of helicopters in China, both civilian and military, in particular helicopters capable of operating at high altitudes. The need for more helicopters became apparent and the procurement of military rotary wing aircraft accelerated. While the native Z-19 and Z-10 were already available, the Chinese government tried to accelerate the equipment of full brigades by purchasing a large number of Mil Mi-17 helicopters in 2019, a sign of its desire to accelerate the development of army aviation.^[3]

Organization

By 2013, the army aviation regiments in six military regions were ungraded to brigades. After the 2015 military reforms, the military regions were merged into theaters and each group army within each theater was intended to have an independent Army Aviation brigade.

As of 2023, each of the 13 PLAGF group armies, plus the Tibet and Xinjiang special military regions, had an aviation brigade, for a total of 13 army aviation brigades and 2 air assault brigades. Each army aviation brigade is composed of 2–3 attack helicopter battalions, and 3–4 transport and assault helicopter battalions, for a total of 32 to 48 attack helicopters and 48 to 64 transport helicopters.^[4] The estimated current number of available aircraft runs between 1,000 and 1,500, depending on the source.

The current army aviation units are as follows, the brigade number being usually the same as the group army's number.

• Eastern Theater Command
  • 71st Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 71st Group Army)
  • 72nd Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 72nd Group Army)
  • 73rd Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 73rd Group Army)
• Southern Theater Command
  • 74th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 74th Group Army)
  • 121st Air Assault Brigade (attached to the 75th Group Army)
• Northern Theater Command
  • 78th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 78th Group Army)
  • 79th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 79th Group Army)
  • 80th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 80th Group Army)
• Central Theater Command
  • 81st Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 81st Group Army
  • 82nd Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 82nd Group Army)
  • 161st Air Assault Brigade (attached to the 83rd Group Army)
• Western Theater Command
  • 76th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 76th Group Army
  • 77th Army Aviation Brigade (attached to the 77th Group Army
• The 84th Army Aviation Brigade in the Xinjiang Military Region.
• The 85th Army Aviation Brigade in the Tibet Military Region.

The Beijing Garrison, plus the Macao and Hong Kong Garrisons, are the only major regional subdivisions of the PLA without an attached army aviation brigade (although smaller helicopter units are available).

Equipment

Further information: List of active People's Liberation Army aircraft

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Variant	In service	Notes
Attack Helicopters
Harbin Z-19	China	attack helicopter/reconnaissance	Z-19WZ	120+[5]
Changhe Z-10	China	Attack/Multirole	WZ-10	200+[5]
Utility Helicopters
Harbin Z-9	China	Utility		120+[5]
Mil Mi-17	Russia	Utility		88[5]
Transport Helicopters
Changhe Z-8	China	Heavy Transport	Z-8A/B/L	135[5]
Mil Mi-17	Russia	Medium Transport		140[5]
Sikorsky S-70	United States	Medium Transport		19[5]
Harbin Z-20	China	Medium Transport		150[5]
Eurocopter EC120 Colibri	France	Light Transport		15[5]
Changhe Z-11	China	Light Transport		53[5]
Fixed-Wing Transports
Xian Y-7	China	transport		2[5]
Shaanxi Y-8	China	Tactical transport		2[5]
Shaanxi Y-9	China	Transport		2[5]
Unmanned aerial vehicle
Guizhou BZK-007[5]	China	MALE UAV
CASC BZK-008[5]
Aisheng BZK-006[5]
Harbin BZK-005[5]	China	MALE UAV
Shenyang BZK-009[5]
CASC CH-4B[5]	China	HALE UAV