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

SunlitZelkova said:

Is it possible that all Air Brigades are expanding from the standard 24 in three flight groups of 8 organization to 30 in three flight groups of 10? This would track with some attempted estimates about J-20 brigade size over in that plane's thread several months ago, when it was found the known number of brigades does not align with the known production estimates (assuming each brigade has 24 aircraft).

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Nah, it's not plausible that ALL brigades are expanding to 30. Some? Sure. J-20 and J-16 units would be prime candidates I guess.

But known Su-35 and Su-30 numbers don't mesh well with that reorganization. J-11B either, unless there have been 260+ of those made. Which there have not been, to my knowledge.

It is possible training units with the J-10A are much bigger than a normal combat air brigade. In the 1960s, the average Soviet Fighter Aviation Regiment with MiG-17 had 60 some airframes, but some training formations with the MiG-15 (more or less similar aircraft) had up to 100 airframes. Making a statement that this is the case would be speculation, of course.

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This is absolutely possible. Not just with J-10A training units. It's something I wrote myself in an earlier post here. I wish we had some actual photographic indication of such large training units.

Also, if used for training, perhaps some early J-11 and J-10A airframes may be used for the training of maintenance personnel. In this case, perhaps it is possible they would be stored almost exclusively inside hangars and may not be considered as part of a training unit's flight worthy complement (if part of a flying brigade at all).

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Possible but I don't think those would amount to a meaningful number of said airframe types.

I think it's much more likely that there simply isn't a neat organization. Rather, some units are larger and others are smaller, depending on the requirements of a geographical command. Sometimes even within units operating the same type of plane.

From what I’ve read and heard, a PLAAF Air Regiment usually has about 24-36 aircraft, depending on the type—fighters, bombers, etc. An Air Division typically includes three regiments, so that’s around 70-100 aircraft total, give or take. PLAN aviation is kind of similar but seems a bit smaller in size. It’s not exactly like the US setup, but the regiments are probably the closest equivalent to a squadron. I don’t have firsthand experience, but that’s the general breakdown I’ve come across.

Onys said:

From what I’ve read and heard, a PLAAF Air Regiment usually has about 24-36 aircraft, depending on the type—fighters, bombers, etc. An Air Division typically includes three regiments, so that’s around 70-100 aircraft total, give or take. PLAN aviation is kind of similar but seems a bit smaller in size. It’s not exactly like the US setup, but the regiments are probably the closest equivalent to a squadron. I don’t have firsthand experience, but that’s the general breakdown I’ve come across.

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Yeah, fighter units are pretty much all Brigades rather than Regiments now. Please read up a bit before posting.

Onys said:

From what I’ve read and heard, a PLAAF Air Regiment usually has about 24-36 aircraft, depending on the type—fighters, bombers, etc. An Air Division typically includes three regiments, so that’s around 70-100 aircraft total, give or take. PLAN aviation is kind of similar but seems a bit smaller in size. It’s not exactly like the US setup, but the regiments are probably the closest equivalent to a squadron. I don’t have firsthand experience, but that’s the general breakdown I’ve come across.

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To add on to what Maikeru said, the responsibilities of the Air Division have been more or less replaced by the "Base." For example, in the Eastern Theater Command, all fighter air brigades are controlled by either Shanghai Base or Fuzhou Base.

My understanding is that the Base fulfills administrative duties, and that actual operational control lies directly with the Theater Command Air Force commander.