Abstract
T he People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is in the midst of a major modernization campaign aimed at retiring and replacing obsolete aircraft and building a modern air force. Despite fifteen years of modernization efforts, China’s air force is still in transition between the type of force fielded by the PLAAF over its first fifty years and the development of a “new PLAAF” with modern equipment, doctrine, and capabilities. The thousands of J-6 fighters that once made up the Chinese fighter fleet have been retired; about one thousand older J-7 and J-8 fighters remain in service. The aircraft that will comprise the future PLAAF have begun to enter service, including 32 Russian-built Su-27UBK multi-role fighters and 116 F-11 Chinaassembled Su-27 variants, 73 Russian Su-30MKK fighters, and 62 of the new indigenously produced J-10 multi-role fighter. China is also developing and purchasing force multipliers including advanced transport aircraft, tankers, and early-warning aircraft. The Chinese vision is of a highly-trained modern air force equipped with high-tech aircraft, advanced precision-guided munitions, support aircraft that serve as force multipliers, and networked command-and-control and intelligence capabilities that allow the PLAAF to fight and win a high-tech war under “informationalized” conditions. This force would not only be more capable of carrying out missions such as air defense and support for ground forces against a modern adversary but could also undertake offensive strikes against ground and naval targets farther from China’s borders. The
Published Version
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