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  • 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

  • Females in the PLA Air Force

    This report discusses the past and present role of females in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) to include officers, enlisted personnel, civilian cadre, and civilian personnel. Historically, females in the PLAAF served in two primary roles:

  • China’s Global Intent and Tactics: Adversary Insights

    We were very excited for another visit on the AFA's Aerospace Advantage podcast.  We need all the people we can get looking at the complex but vitally important issues.In Episode 49 of the Aerospace Advantage podcast China’s Global Intent and Tactics: Adversary Insights, host John “Slick” Baum is

  • PLA Air Force Shifts Transition Training to the Schoolhouse

    On October 4 and 5, 2021, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reported that the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) has begun experimenting with training a brigade of new pilots to fly the J-10, a fourth-generation fighter, at the Shijiazhuang Flight Academy, one of its three flight academies. In the

  • Humans First, Weapon Second?

    The United States Air Force (USAF) views its human warfighter as its most valuable assets. USAF fighter pilots participate in preventive care programs, such as Optimizing the Human Weapon System (OHWS), which provide them with extra embedded physical and psychological support to improve

  • Second Combat Brigade of PRC Air Force Likely Receives Stealth Fighter

    Something unusual appeared in a recent satellite image of an airbase in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the image, a J-20 appears to be taxiing from the runway at Anshan Airport, a military-civilian, dual-use airport in northeastern China that is the home base of the 1st Aviation Brigade of