Air Division, Regiments, ... Bases, Brigades, etc

You made my day

KJ-500 spotted at Shenyang Yu Hong Airbase on 06/03/18. Yu Hong is, incidentally, also getting new hangars, seen under construction at the bottom right.

Maybe the 47th Regt is getting expanded to include KJ-500s?

J-8F from to the 3rd Brigade - former 1st AD, 3rd AR - assigned to the Northern Theater Command. So now all three former regiments of the former 1st AD have been identified as brigades.

jobjed said:

@Deino

According to multiple experienced PLAAF ORBAT-watchers, the 78AXA-series of PLAAF units work like this:

• 78AXA units do not follow the "78X - 611" scheme. That means there are no such things as the 170th-177th brigades. I think AMan's post about 788 - 722 is correct.
• 78X1X, 78X2X, 78X3X are Cangzhou regimental-level units. Although they are regimental units, they fly so many aircraft that their total number is far larger than a normal division. Their mission is two-fold; combat and advanced training. The pilots that are assigned to them are the best of the PLAAF.
• 78X6X is Dingxin's oldest unit. Their mission is testing and experimenting. They fly a large assortment of aircraft from J-7s to J-11Bs, to transport aircraft. They are responsible for evaluating weapon systems. The
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  trialling the PL-15 spotted a few years ago belonged to this unit.
• 78X7X is a new unit formed in 2014. Their mission is evaluating new equipment and writing the manual for the rest of the PLAAF's pilots. The 90th PLA Anniversary parade's aircraft were mostly from this unit. New aircraft are sent to this unit for evaluation before further proliferation. Their mission used to be handled by Cangzhou's units.
• 78X8X is a new unit formed in 2014. This is the PLAAF's new dedicated OPFOR unit. They replace Cangzhou's old OPFOR unit that was the size of a "dadui" (8 aircraft?). This unit is a brigade-level unit, far larger than the old OPFOR unit. Their designation is the "PLAAF 66th Brigade", not 177th Brigade. They supposedly fly
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  of aircraft. So far, aircraft no. 17, 21, 25, 26, and 32 have been spotted.
• 78X9X is a UAV training unit, possibly also a combat unit. They were featured in a few CCTV-7 broadcasts. They are not the same unit as the one that was featured in the 2015 Parade.

Click to expand...

Me again with one issue I just noticed right that moment: If these brigades follow indeed a system of 78x - 722, then it does not fit to the J-20's and J-16s with 78x7x numbers, which are said to be from the 176th (old system) or 66th (new system) brigade???

So wouldn't be a "78X - 721" scheme be much better?

Even more at least by a look thru my collection I did not find any 78x8x-serial numbered aircraft?

Anyone else with some more info?

Best,
Deino

PS: me again IMO the system 788 - 722 does not make sense since an aircraft with 78x1x would the be from the 781-722 = 59th Brigade ... but the former 59th Regiment is still active within the 20th Division. Similar also my proposed 78X-721 system also collides with the 60th AR within the 20th Div.

Anyway I don't think the PLAAF would allow a double use of unit numbers???

Deino said:

Me again with one issue I just noticed right that moment: If these brigades follow indeed a system of 78x - 722, then it does not fit to the J-20's and J-16s with 78x7x numbers, which are said to be from the 176th (old system) or 66th (new system) brigade???

So wouldn't be a "78X - 721" scheme be much better?

Even more at least by a look thru my collection I did not find any 78x8x-serial numbered aircraft?

Anyone else with some more info?

Best,
Deino

Click to expand...

I take back the "78X - 122" proposition, there seems to be no pattern between the serial numbers of 78XAX units and their names. For example, the 78X1X - 78X3X units are, respectively, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of FTTC, and 78X8X is the 66th Brigade. The J-16s and J-20s are not in the OPFOR brigade, they're in the experimentation and manual-drafting unit. So far, only J-11Bs have been spotted in the 66th Brigade. In 2016, experienced PLAAF-watchers said there was 1 'dadui' or 大队 of J-11Bs in the 66th brigade. I'm not sure if the J-11B numbers have been expanded or if the brigade also has aircraft of other types.

Thanks a lot ....

FTTC 1st Regiment gets a . 3rd Regiment with their J-16s and J-20s gets most of the attention.

J-10A, S, C have been spotted. J-10Bs are probably in this regiment too.

@Deino

I'm not really understanding this serial number.




62nd Division 1st Regt or 102nd Brigade? Or very, very old footage?

Bengbu and Yancheng got subordinated to Cangzhou last year according to insiders and experienced PLAAF-watchers.

Bengbu would now be FTTC 4th Regiment, and Yancheng is the 5th Regiment.

Since FTTC 1st Regiment specialises in J-10s, 2nd Regiment in J-11Bs, and 3rd Regiment in Su-30s and J-16s, we may be seeing a pipeline arrangement with FTTC, with promising candidates starting at 4th and 5th Regiment before being funnelled into one of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Regiment to specialise in their allocated aircraft type.