Earthly forces, heavenly problems
The Northern Command (the Army Headquarters is located in Jinan) has four armies from the former Shenyang and partially Jinan military districts.
The strongest in the PLA is the Central Command (Army Headquarters in Shijiazhuang). It is a reserve for others and includes five armies from the former Beijing and the main part of the Jinan military districts.
20th Army: 58th and 60th Mechanized, 13th tank2nd artillery and air defense brigade.
27 Army: 188-I light infantry, 235-I mechanized, 80 and 82-I motorized infantry, 7-I tank, 16-I artillery and air defense brigades.
The 38th Army is the most powerful land association of the PLA. First of all, the latest models of weapons and equipment come here and here new methods of warfare are being worked out. It consists of the 112th and 113th mechanized and 6th tank divisions, 5th artillery, 4th air defense, special forces, 8th army aviation brigades.
54-I army, like 38-I, is considered to be particularly powerful and technically advanced, its connections and parts are automated and computerized as much as possible. It consists of 127-I (light) and 162-I mechanized divisions, 160-I mechanized, 11-I tank, artillery, air defense brigade, 1-th army aviation regiment.
65 Army: 193-I light infantry, 194-I heavy infantry, 195-I mechanized, 70 and 196-I mechanized infantry, 1-I tank, 14-I artillery and air defense brigades.
The Beijing garrison includes 1, 2 and 3-th garrison divisions.
Parts of district subordination include special forces regiments, anti-tank and pontoon bridges (two for each), artillery, 2 chemical protection, electronic warfare, and a department for the protection of state institutions (the latter is directly subordinate to the Central Military Commission).
Provincial Military Inner Mongolia incorporates the 205 motorized infantry brigade and border defense regiment.
In addition, on the territory of Beijing VO is the only airborne unit in the PLA - the 15 airborne corps. It includes the 43, 44 and 45 th airborne divisions (each with three parachute regiments), as well as reconnaissance, engineering and sapper and transport battalions of the Airborne Forces. Operationally, the 15 VDK submits to the PLA Air Force.
The Western command (headquarters of land forces in Lanzhou) includes three armies and two provincial military formations from the former Lanzhou and partially Chengdu military districts.
13-I army: 37 and 149-I motorized infantry divisions, 17-I tank, artillery, air defense, special forces and 2-I army brigade.
21-I army: 61-I mountain mechanized infantry division, 62-I mechanized, 12-I tank, 19-I artillery, air defense, 184-I special forces of the brigade.
47 army: 139 mechanized, 55 mine, 56 motorized, 9 tank, 15 artillery, air defense brigade.
The Xinjiang provincial military establishment with a special status, despite the difficult geographical conditions and remoteness from the most developed regions of the PRC, has a very high potential. It includes 8-I light mechanized, 4-I motorized infantry, 6 and 11-I mountain motorized infantry divisions, 2-I artillery, air defense and 3-I army aviation brigade, engineer-engineer regiment.
The Tibetan provincial military specialty has 52 and 53 mine, 54 th mechanized brigade, 651 th anti-aircraft missile brigade, 308 th artillery and one anti-aircraft artillery regiment.
Parts of district subordination - two regiments of special forces and EW.
The Southern Command (the headquarters of the ground forces in Nanning) includes three armies and a provincial military establishment from the former Guanzhou and parts of the Chengdu military districts.
The Hainan provincial military district consists of the 132 motorized infantry brigade.
The garrison of Hong Kong includes an infantry brigade, a helicopter regiment, and a group of marine special forces.
The units of district subordination are the group of special forces “Sharp Sword”, the engineering and sapper and pontoon-bridge brigades, EW and the 12-th Army Aviation Regiment.
Eastern Command (Headquarters of the Ground Forces in Fuzhou) - three armies and a provincial VO. It completely duplicates the former Nanking Military District.
The garrison of Shanghai includes the 1, 2 and 3 coast guard brigades.
The Fujian Provincial VO has two divisions and one coast defense brigade.
Parts of district subordination are special forces brigades and the 14-I air defense brigade, helicopter regiments, EW and 31 th pontoon-bridge regiment.
Strike the iron like a neighbor
China is one of three countries capable of producing weapons and equipment of all classes. At the same time, it is typical for it to copy foreign samples, both Soviet / Russian and western, entering the People's Republic of China by legal or devious means. However, any borrowed product engineers of the Middle Kingdom begin to creatively alter. As a result, after going through many modifications, foreign technology is almost completely sintered. As a result, the samples that have been in service with the PLA in recent years have, as a rule, already their own, albeit with certain foreign borrowings.
The ground forces of the PLA have their own nuclear missile potential. It includes at least 600 PU tactical missiles DF-11, no less 350 PU DF-15 and from 350 to 500 PU KR land-based DH-10 (3 missiles on PU). The number of missiles themselves is unknown. It is clear that it significantly exceeds the number of PU. All missiles can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.
Tank building in the PRC developed in full accordance with the trends described above. The 59 tour was copied from the Soviet T-54. Then there was his deep modification of the Tour 69-II. In addition, this family has a different branch: the 59II Tour with the English gun L7 (105 mm), and then a number of its modifications - the Tour 79 and the Tour 88. All these tanks are very outdated, but the PLA still has about 900 Tour 88, 300 – 500 Tour 79, 3000 – 4000 Tour 59, that is, about 4000 – 5500.
At the beginning of 80, China managed to get samples of T-72 from Iraq and Romania, which became the prototype of a new family of tanks. His first representative was the Tour 85-IIM (aka Tour 90-II, or Al-Khalid). It did not enter into service with the PLA itself, it is produced under license in Pakistan for the army of this country. In China, a number of truly modern tanks were created using Western (primarily German) technologies and equipment, which are essentially a complex synthesis of T-72 and Leopard-2 using purely Chinese technologies. Today, at least 3500 Type 96 / 96A and 835 Type 99 are in service. Created new versions of the Tour 99, including the Tour 99KM with 155-mm cannon and 2100 engine horsepower. Production of the 96 Tour and the 99 Tour continues, although China’s tank park is already the largest in the world (8 – 10 thousands of units).
The PLA has up to two thousand light tanks (1200 62 Tour, 800 63 Tour), to which you can add at least 350 ZTD-05 units (05 Tour) with 105-mm gun, based on the ZBD-05 BMP.
The first Chinese infantry fighting vehicle, the Ture 86 (also known as the WZ-501), was a copy of the Soviet BMP-1. Today in service with the PLA to the 2450 WZ-501. In the 90-e based on the BMP-3 in China created a family of new combat vehicles. Now there are at least 1239 BMP ZBD-04 (WZ-502, floating) and ZBD-08 (WZ-502G, non-floating, with enhanced armor), and also at least 600 ZBD-05, which became the basis of amphibious vehicles, including above-mentioned light tank ZTD-05. In addition, the PLA Airborne Forces have up to 130 BMD ZBD-03.
The PLA still has up to 5000 old BTR, developed mainly in China itself: about 480 WZ-503 (BMP-1 without turret), up to 2500 Tour 63, 1750 YW-534 (also Tour 89). Then, on the basis of the Belgian BTR "Sibmas", the WZ523 BTR (50 – 100 machines were produced) and the more advanced WZ551 (aka 92 Tour, not less than 1850 units) were created, on the chassis of which the whole family was created again. The newest wheeled armored personnel carriers of the Tour 09 (they are also ZBL-09) are being commissioned; they are no less than 520 plus 200 BRM on the same base.
Cannon mass
The PLA artillery is extremely diverse. 50 – 70-e created many copies of Soviet guns. These are 122-mm Tour 54-1 (prototype - M-30), Tour 60 (D-74), Tour 85 (D-30), 130-mm Tour 59 / 59-1 (М46), 152-54 / 1-20 (М66), 20-80 / МNNXX, 155-45 (М89), 021-01 (М300), 89-Tour (X-NUMX-2000) (D-54 or ML-66) and the 1000 Tour (D-59). In 59, the 1-mm Austrian gun GHN-6000 was copied, which in the PLA became the 54 Tour (aka WA60, PLL85). There are about XNUMX Tour XNUMX, XNUMX Tour XNUMX and XNUMX Tour, XNUMX Tour XNUMX / XNUMX-XNUMX, XNUMX Tour XNUMX, XNUMX Tour and XNUMX Tour. Like all developed countries, China actually stopped the development of towed artillery in favor of self-propelled.
The first Chinese self-propelled guns were Soviet towed guns mounted on the chassis of Chinese armored personnel carriers. These are the 122-mm 89 Tour (D-30 on the 77 Tour), the 85 Tour (D-30 on the 85 / YW531Н Tour), the 70 Tour (М30 on the 63В Tour Chassis). Only then appeared two SAUs on the same special chassis: the 155-mm Tour 88 (also known as PLZ45) and the 122-mm Tour 83. Today there are about 500 Tour 83, 200 Tour 70, 700 Tour 89 in service. The development of SAU Tour 88 was PLZ05 (aka Tour 05), which are now at least 300 and production continues. Began to enter into service 122-mm ACS PLZ07 on the chassis of the BMP ZBD04 (there are up to 600 units). In addition, in 90, the PRC bought 100 wheeled 120-mm ACS 2С23 Nona-SVK in Russia, in Ukraine - three tracked 2C9 Nona-S. In the image of 2С23, the own 120-mm wheeled SAU PLL05 was created on the BZW WZ551 chassis (at least 200 units). The 09-mm ACS Type 122 (PLL-09), already 09, was created on the chassis of the wheeled armored personnel carrier Tour 450.
Rocket artillery is considered the strongest side of the PLA ground forces. It was in this class of weapons that the Chinese military industrial complex created the most original samples and eventually achieved world leadership.
In 60 – 80, China produced three major MLRS families. The first is the 63 towed MLRS (12х107 mm) and its self-propelled version (on the truck) of the 81 Tour. The second is the 63 Tour (mm 19x130 on the truck), the 70 Tour (the same on the YW-531C BTR), the 82 Tour (mm 30x130 on the truck), the 85 Tour (the same on the YW-534 BTR). The third was created on the basis of "Grad", captured in Vietnam. These are the 81 Tour and the 90 Tour (40x122 mm on different trucks), the 83 Tour (“trimmed” Grad, 24X122 mm on the truck) and the 89 Tour (also PHZ-89, 40х122 mm on the crawler XNUMX on the truck, and the XNUMX XZUMXXNUMX mm on the truck, and PHN-XNUMX, XNUMXxXNUMX mm on the truck on the truck, and the XNUMX Tour (it’s PHZ-XNUMX, XNUMXхXNUMX mm on the truck on the truck).
In the forefront of the world Chinese MRLs came in the last 20 years. On the basis of the Russian Smerch, its almost complete copy of the Tour 03 (or PHL-03 (12x300 mm)) and MLRS A-100 (10x300 mm) were created. The RSNO Tour 83 (WM-40, 4х273 mm) and the improved WM-80 and WM-120 (8х273 mm) appeared, and the firing range of the latter reached 120 kilometers. For WS-1 MLRS (8x302 mm) and 96 Tour (4x320 mm), this indicator is 180 – 200 kilometers. The WS-2 family of machines (6х400 – 425 mm) became the best MLRS in the world. The latest modification of the WS-2D has a firing range of up to 400 kilometers, each unit has a UAV, carrying out the guidance of projectiles.
The total number of MLRS in the PLA reaches 4000, of which 1250 Tour 81, 375 Tour 89 (122 mm) and 175 Tour 03 (300 mm).
The artillery of the Chinese army counts up to 30 thousands of gun barrels, mortars and MLRS, being not only the most powerful in the world, but surpassing the closest competitors by several times. This is the strongest side of the PLA ground forces in the event of a large-scale war, which the Chinese command is guided by. The fact that a significant proportion of artillery systems are obsolete samples, with such a massive use will not matter.
Rod lagging behind
The number of ZRPK, ZSU and towed anti-aircraft guns in total is not less than 15 thousand units. Most modern are ZRPK Tour 95 (PGZ-95) with 4 25-mm cannons and 4 MPADS QW-2 (approximately 270), SoL Tour 07 (35 mm, not less 100 units) and anti-aircraft gun Tour 90 (35 mm copy Swiss "Oerlikon" GDF-001, order 340 units).
Despite the huge number of air defense systems, MANPADS, air defense systems, anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft guns, military air defense is still one of the weaknesses of the Chinese army, because up to 90 percent of its fire weapons are very outdated and can not seriously deal with modern aircraft. The only exceptions are Tor-M1 and FM-90 and QW-1 / 2 and FN-6 / 16 MANPADS. Unlike armored vehicles and field artillery, the quantity here does not turn into quality.
Army aviation SV PLA was created only in 1986 year. Unlike other types of troops, its equipment developed not so much under the Soviet-Russian, as under European influence.
8 SA-342 "Gazelle", more than 350 Z-9 (created on the basis of SA-365 "Dauphin" in various versions) and 100 lightweight Z-11 (based on French AS350) were used as combat helicopters. However, their real combat potential is very limited. Now 1 SA342 (still 6 – 7 in storage), 305 Z-9 (of which 12 in the Airborne Forces) remain in the ranks, up to 75 Z-11. Only in recent years has a full-fledged Z-10 combat helicopter (also known as WZ-10), based on the Italian A-129, but using Russian and its own technologies, began to enter service. Available up to 110 Z-10, production continues. Began the entry into the troops of the combat helicopter Z-19, which is a deep modification of the Z-9. Now, the PLAC Army Aviation has up to 94 Z-19.
10 Russian Mi-8 and 239 Mi-17, 4 super heavy Mi-26, up to 93 European NA-120, up to 23 American S-70C, 95 Z-8 (including 12 American S-321C, XNUMX Z-XNUMX (including XNUMX American S-XNUMXC, XNUMX Z-XNUMX (including XNUMX Z-XNUMX) (including XNUMX American S-XNUMXC, XNUMX Z-XNUMX (including XNUMX American S-XNUMXC, XNUMX Z-XNUMX (including XNUMX Z-XNUMX American XNUMX Z-XNUMX) a copy of the French SA-XNUMX "Super Frelon").
The PLAC Army Aviation is developing rapidly, but so far it is lagging behind other branches of the military and, like air defense, is the weak side of the Chinese army.
In general, China’s ground forces are considered the strongest in the world, and their combat power continues to grow rapidly. Old equipment is replaced by a new one-to-one. The PLA command began to introduce American principles of high-tech network-centric warfare into the army. Combining mechanization with informatization, that is, a significant amount of modern technology with the latest control systems, communications and intelligence, will give the Chinese army a fundamentally new quality, guaranteeing it victory over any potential adversary in the Eastern Hemisphere.
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