When it comes to Taiwan, the Eastern Command will start firstThe only one of the seven old military districts of the PLA, which in its former form was transformed into a new command, turned out to be the Nanjing Military District.
As a result of the military reform of 2017 (" New Great Wall of China ", "NWO", 10/20/17), it became the Eastern Command (VC), or, if translated literally, the Eastern Combat Command Zone.
The headquarters of the VC is still located in the city of Nanjing. In the area of responsibility – Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi provinces. As before, the main task of the VC is the "reunification of the motherland", that is, the seizure of Taiwan.
on the groundThe headquarters of the VC Ground Forces is located in Fuzhou.
He has three army groups under his command.
71st Army Group (headquarters in the city of Xuzhou, the former 12th Army Group) includes the 178th medium, 179th light, 2nd, 35th, 160th, 235th heavy combined arms brigades, 71st Special Forces, Air defense (air defense) brigades, artillery, army aviation, engineering, support.
The 72nd Army Group (headquarters in the city of Huzhou, the former 1st Army Group) consists of the 10th heavy, 34th "medium heavy", 85th medium, 90th light, 5th, 124 amphibious combined arms brigades, 72nd special forces brigades, army aviation, air defense, artillery, engineering, support.
The 73rd Army Group (headquartered in Xiamen, the former 31st Army Group) consists of the 3rd, 92nd light, 14th, 91st amphibious, 86th heavy, 145th medium combined arms brigades, 73rd Special Forces, air defense brigades, artillery, engineering, support, army aviation.
All six heavy brigades are equipped with Toure 96/96A tanks. At the same time, in the 35th, 160th and 235th brigades, the Tour 86 BMP remain, in the 2nd, 10th and 86th brigades they are replaced by the Tour 04 BMP. The 34th brigade can be called "medium-heavy", it is equipped with outdated tracked vehicles – Tour 59 tanks, BTR Tour 63 and Tour 89.
The armament of all four amphibious brigades is standard (ZTD-05 floating tanks, ZBD-05 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles, Toure 07B ACS, HQ-17/17A SAM). All three medium brigades have ZTL-11 wheeled assault guns. At the same time, the 85th and 178th brigades are equipped with ZBL-08 wheeled armored personnel carriers, the ZSL-92B armored personnel carriers still remain in the 145th brigade (" Chinese armored vehicles are reaching the world level ", "HBO", 08/19/12).
Light brigades are armed mainly with light equipment. At the same time, the 90th Light Brigade has towed 122-mm Tour 96 howitzers, they are the same as the PLC-171 self-propelled guns, on a jeep, and 122-mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) Tour 81 (" Brigades of the Communist War ", "HBO", 16.09.22).
All three artillery brigades have two divisions of 155-mm wheeled self-propelled guns PCL-181. As part of the 72nd and 73rd artillery brigades, there are two divisions of 155-mm tracked self-propelled guns Tour 05, in the 71st brigade there are none, there are still two divisions of towed 152-mm guns Tour 66. In the 73rd brigade there are two divisions of 300-mm MLRS Tour 03, in the 71st and 72nd – one division each, as well as one division of the newest modular MLRS Round 16 (" New Chinese Wall of Fire ", "HBO", 05.08.22).
Apparently, all 35 Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased in Russia are in the air defense brigades of the Eastern Command. They are complemented by local copies of this HQ-17 SAM (" Evolution of the Chinese umbrella ", "HBO", 03/25/12).
The 71st and 72nd Air Defense Brigades have one Tor-M1/HQ-17 division each, and the 73rd Brigade has two or even three divisions of these SAMs. The 72nd and 73rd Brigades each have two divisions of the HQ–16 air defense system. There is one division in the 71st Brigade, and the only HQ-7 SAM division in the VK remained in it.
All three brigades of army aviation equipped with Z-8/9/10/19 and Mi-17 helicopters (" Celestial Rotorcraft Empire ", "HVO", 17.12.21) also have a standard composition.
Four (301st - 304th) coastal defense brigades, the 1st Reconnaissance Brigade, the 1st Electronic warfare Brigade, and the 1st long–range MLRS brigade are directly subordinate to the headquarters of the Eastern Command.
IN HEAVENThe headquarters of the Eastern Command Air Force is located in the same place as the headquarters of the entire command, that is, in Nanjing.
The 10th Air Division (its planes carry numbers 2x1x) includes the 28th and 29th regiments with N-6K/N bombers ("The sky darkens from red dragons ", "HBO", 03/18/12).
The 14th Air Division (numbers 2x5x) includes the 42nd regiment with J-7E/D fighters (" Through the thorns to the fifth generation ", "HBO", 02/25/12).
The 26th Air Division (numbers 3xx7x) includes the 76th and 77th regiments of the Y-8T, KJ-2000, KJ-200 AWACS aircraft (" Air Cabs of the Celestial Empire ", "HBO", 28.01.22).
The 7th Aviation Brigade (numbers 61x8x) is armed with J-16 fighter-bombers, the 8th Aviation Brigade (numbers 61x9x) – J-10 fighters (replaced by 5th generation J-20A fighters), the 9th Brigade (numbers 62x0x) – Su-30MKK fighter-bombers and 5th generation J-20 fighters, 25th Brigade (numbers 63x6x) – J-10 fighters, 40th Brigade (numbers 65x1x) – J-11A/B/J-16/Su-27UB fighters and fighter-bombers.
41st Brigade (numbers 65x2x) – also J-11A/V/Su-27UB fighters, 78th Brigade (numbers 68x9x) – J-16 fighters, 83rd Brigade (numbers 69x4x) – Q-5 attack aircraft and JH-7A bombers, 84th Brigade (numbers 69x5x) – JH-7A bombers, 85th Brigade (numbers 69x6x) – Su-30MKK and J-20, 86th Brigade (numbers 69x7x) – J-7E, 93rd Brigade (numbers 70x4x) – J-8FR scouts, 95th Brigade (numbers 70x6x) – J-11B. Transport and rescue brigade (numbers 51x1x) – rescue and transport helicopters and Mi-17, Z-8, Y-5, Y-7 aircraft.
The brigade of combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is armed with outdated J-6 fighters, converted into unmanned vehicles, which, apparently, will have to act in the style of kamikaze (" Technologies of deserted war ", "HVO", 05/21/2011).
The 7th anti-aircraft Missile Division includes the 17th anti-aircraft missile Regiment with three divisions (presumably the 4th, 57th, 68th) of S-300PMU2 anti-aircraft missile systems. The 3rd anti-aircraft missile Brigade has four divisions (9th, 42nd, 59th, 115th) S-300PMU1 air defense systems and one division (14th) HQ-9. 4th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade - five divisions (10th, 16th, 39th, 73rd, 108th) air defense systems S-300PMU2.
The 7th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade has four divisions (31st, 60th, 72nd, 88th) of the HQ-9 Air Defense System. In the 14th anti-aircraft missile brigade – from three to five divisions (from the 116th to the 120th) The HQ-12 air defense system. The 7th anti-aircraft missile Regiment includes two divisions (46th and 103rd) of the S-300PMU air defense System ("The Celestial Empire looks after the heavens ", "HVO", 04/15/12).
AND THE SEAThe headquarters of the Eastern Fleet (VF) is located in the city of Ningbo.
It consists of the 22nd and 42nd flotillas of submarines, the 3rd and 6th flotillas of destroyers, the 13th to 16th flotillas of frigates, the 5th flotilla of landing ships, two flotillas of boats, a flotilla of minesweeping forces. Unlike the Northern and Southern Fleets of the PLA Navy, the Eastern Fleet has neither nuclear submarines nor aircraft carriers.
Currently, the Navy consists of 12 submarines (PL; two pr. 636, four pr. 636EM, six pr. 039B). 16 destroyers (four ave. 956/E, four ave. 052C, eight ave. 052D). 20 frigates (12 ave. 054A, two ave. 054, four ave. 053N3, two ave. 053N1G). 19 corvettes (or small frigates) ave. 056/056A. More than seven missile boats (two ave. 037-II, five ave. 037-IG, an unknown number of ave. 022). One patrol boat ave. 037-IS and a significant number of boats ave. 062 and 037. 14 minesweepers (three ave. 082-II, four ave. 082-I, four ave. 082, one ave. 081A, two ave. 081). One universal landing ship ave. 075, three amphibious transport docks ave. 071, 24 tank landing ships (five ave. 072-III, seven ave. 072A, three ave. 072-II, four ave. 073A, five ave. 074A). The fleet is constantly replenished with new units, primarily large surface ships ("Celestial Armada", "HVO", 01.10.21).
The aviation of the Eastern Fleet includes three air divisions, two air brigades and two aviation regiments.
The 1st Air Division includes the 1st Regiment (its aircraft carry numbers 81x1x) with KJ-500 AWACS aircraft and the 2nd Regiment (numbers 82x1x) with KJ-200 AWACS aircraft and Y-8Q anti-submarine aircraft.
The 4th Air Division has a single 11th regiment (numbers 9x4) with multi-purpose helicopters Z-9 and Mi-8, rescue Ka-27PS, anti-submarine Ka-28 and long-range radar detection helicopters Ka-31.
In the 6th Air Division, the 16th Regiment (numbers 81x6x) and the 18th Regiment (numbers 82x6x) are equipped with JH-7 tactical bombers, the 17th Regiment (numbers 81x1x, as in the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division) - H-6G long-range bombers and H-6DU tankers.
The 10th Aviation Brigade (numbers 81x4x) is armed with Su-30MK2 fighter-bombers, the 12th Aviation brigade - J-10AH/SH fighters. However, it is possible that these two brigades are combined into one 4th aviation brigade.
In addition, the VF aviation has the 5th regiment (numbers 5x) of electronic warfare aircraft (EW) H-6J and a regiment of reconnaissance UAVs BZK-005.
The coastal forces of the VF include the 3rd and 4th Marine Brigades (their armament is similar to that of amphibious brigades of the ground forces) and the 1st Coastal Defense Regiment with the YJ-62 PKR.
THE MAIN TASKIn general, the forces of the Eastern Command have quite an obvious "marine" or "amphibious" bias, since, as mentioned above, their main task is to capture Taiwan.
It is here that four of the six amphibious brigades of the ground forces are located. There are no most "advanced" Tour 99 tanks here, but long-range MLRS are coming here as a priority, which can reach almost anywhere in Taiwan from the mainland.
The question of whether the PLA will invade the island is no longer worth it ("The Inevitability of Taiwan ", "HBO", 24.09.21). The question is when this will happen (unless, of course, Taipei surrenders voluntarily, but this is still unlikely). With a very high probability – in the coming years.
Naturally, the VC forces will not engage in the seizure of Taiwan alone: this is the main immediate task of the PLA as a whole. The Easterners will have to start. The rest will quickly catch up, because it will be very important for China to conduct a blitzkrieg-style campaign (" Battle of the Titans ", "HBO", 06/19/20).
The Eastern Command will also play an important role in the event of a war between China and Japan. But such a war will also become a matter for the entire PLA as a whole ("The Rising Sun and the Soaring Dragon ", "HBO", 23.09.22).
Alexander KhramchikhinAlexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin – independent military expert
