The Northern Command of the PLA includes the strongest army groupAs a result of the 2017 military reform ("New Great Wall of China", "NWO", 10/20/17), the Shenyang Military District and part of the Jinan Military District of the PLA turned into the Northern Command (Northern Combat Command Zone, SC) with headquarters in Shenyang.
His area of responsibility includes the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the provinces of Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. [...]
ON THE HILLS OF MANCHURIAThe headquarters of the ground forces of the UK is located in the city of Jinan, three army groups are subordinate to it.
As part of the 78th Army Group (headquarters in Harbin, the former 16th Army Group) there are 48th light, 115th medium, 8th, 68th, 202nd, 204th heavy combined arms brigades, 78th MTR, 78th Artillery, 78th Engineering, 78th Support, 78th Army Aviation, 78th Air Defense (Air Defense) Brigade.
79th Army Group (headquarters in Liaoyang city, former 39th Army Group) includes the 119th, 191st light, 46th medium, 200th "medium heavy", 116th, 190th heavy combined arms brigades, 79th Artillery Brigade, 79thThe 1st Air Defense Brigade, the 79th Special Forces Brigade, the 79th Army Aviation Brigade, the 79th Engineering Brigade, the 79th support Brigade.
The 80th Army Group (headquartered in Weifang City, formerly the 26th Army Group) includes the 47th, 138th, 199th light, 69th heavy, 118th medium, 203rd "medium heavy" combined arms brigades, 80th Artillery, 80th Air Defense Brigade, 80th Special Forces Brigade, 80th Army Aviation Brigade, 80th Engineering Brigade, 80th Support Brigade.
It can be noted that the 80th Army Group is stationed in Shandong Province, which is separated by sea from the rest of the area of responsibility of the Northern Command - it adjoins the areas of responsibility of the Central and Eastern Commands.
The 8th, 69th and 116th Heavy Brigades are equipped with Tour 96/96A tanks and Tour 86 BMP, 68th, 190th, 202nd and 204th - Tour 99/99A tanks and Tour 04A BMP (" Chinese armored vehicles are reaching the world level ", "The 190th and 204th brigades have already received 122-mm self-propelled artillery units (ACS) Tour 07 (in the 190th there are also tracked multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) PHZ-10), in the 202nd there are still ACS Tour 89, and 68-The 68th and 204th brigades are armed with 35 mm anti-aircraft self-propelled guns (ZSU) Tour 09, the 204th received wheeled anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) HQ-17A.
The 200th and 203rd combined arms brigades can be called "medium-heavy", they are officially considered medium, while equipped with old tracked vehicles (tanks Tour 59, armored personnel carriers (APC) Tour 63 and Tour 89).
The "real" medium brigades are the 46th, 115th and 118th, armed with ZTL-11 wheeled assault guns and ZBL-08 wheeled armored personnel carriers. In the 118th brigade, HQ-7 sams remain in service, the 115th has already received HQ-17A instead of them.
Light brigades are equipped with motor vehicles and towed guns (" Brigades of the Communist War ", "HVO", 09/16/12).
All three brigades of army aviation equipped with Z-8/9/10/19 and Mi-17 helicopters ("Celestial Rotorcraft Empire", "HVO", 17.12.21) have a standard overall composition.
All three artillery brigades of the UK are armed with 300-mm MLRS Tour 03, and the 78th is also equipped with the latest Tour 16. As for the 155-mm ACS, the 78th and 79th brigades have tracked Tour 05, the 80th – wheeled PCL-181 (" New Chinese wall of fire ", "HBO", 05.08.22).
All three air defense brigades include one or two divisions of HQ-16 anti-aircraft missile systems and one or two divisions of HQ-7B air defense systems (" Evolution of the Chinese Umbrella ", "HVO", 03/25/12).
11 border brigades (from the 321st to the 331st), four coastal defense brigades (from the 332nd to the 335th), the 4th reconnaissance Brigade, the 4th Electronic warfare Brigade (EW) are directly subordinate to the headquarters of the IC.
WINGS OF THE NORTHThe headquarters of the Northern Command Air Force is located in the city of Shenyang.
The 12th Air Division (its aircraft carry numbers 2xx3x) includes the 35th regiment with J-8B fighters (" Through the thorns to the fifth generation ", "HBO", 02/25/12). It is possible that this division has already been transformed into the 35th Aviation Brigade.
The 16th Air Division (numbers 2xx7x) includes the 46th regiment with reconnaissance aircraft J-8R /FR, the 47th regiment with transport and electronic warfare aircraft Y-8C/CB /J and the 48th regiment with reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) WZ-7.
The 1st aviation brigade (numbers 61x2x) is armed with heavy fighters J-20A, J-11B, Su-27, the 2nd aviation brigade (numbers 61x3x) - light fighters J–10, the 3rd aviation brigade (numbers 61x4x) - fighters J-8F and fighter-bombers J-16, 15th Air Brigade (numbers 62x6x) – JH-7A bombers, 31st Air brigade (numbers 64x2x) - also JH–7A, 34th Air Brigade (numbers 64x5x) - J-10 light fighters, 36th (numbers 64x7x) and 44th (numbers 65x5x) air brigades – J-7G fighters (the 36th receives J-10), 61st Aviation Brigade (numbers 67x2x) – J-10B, 63rd Aviation Brigade (numbers 67x4x) – J-7H, 88th Aviation Brigade (numbers 69x9x) – J-7E, 89th Aviation Brigade (numbers 70x0x) – J-11B fighters, 90th Aviation Brigade (numbers 70x1x) – Q-5D attack aircraft (perhaps this brigade has already been disbanded), 91st Aviation Brigade (numbers 70x2x) – J-7II/H fighters, transport and rescue brigade (numbers 54x1x) – Y transport aircraft -5 and Y-7, Z-8K and Z-9 helicopters.
The 12th anti-aircraft missile Brigade has five divisions (presumably the 19th, 22nd, 48th, 74th, 101st) of the HQ-9 air defense system. The 5th anti-aircraft missile Brigade includes four divisions (20th, 38th, 71-th, 116th) S-300PMU2 air defense systems, three more divisions (8th, 43rd, 67th) of this air defense system are part of the 1st Anti-aircraft missile Regiment (ZRP). The 5th and 8th anti-aircraft missile regiments include three divisions each (5th, 29th, 32nd in the 5th SAM, 75th, 76th, 77th in the 8th SAM) SAM HQ-12 ("The Celestial Empire looks after the heavens ", "HBO", 15.04.22).
THE NORTHERN FLEET WILL NOT LET YOU DOWNThe headquarters of the Northern Fleet (SF) of the PLA Navy is located in Qingdao.
It consists of the 1st flotilla of nuclear submarines (PLA), the 2nd and 12th flotillas of submarines (" Arming the fastest in the world ", "HBO", 07/23/2011), the 1st and 10th flotillas of destroyers, the 11th and 12thI am a flotilla of frigates (" Celestial Armada ", "HVO", 01.10.21), a flotilla of boats, a flotilla of minesweeping forces, the 1st flotilla of landing ships.
The ship's composition of the SF includes an old nuclear submarine with ballistic missiles (SSB) ave. 092, eight PLA (three ave. 091 and five ave. 093A), 23 PL (four old, but still combat-ready ave. 035G, one much more modern ave. 039 and eight ave. 039G, as well as 10 newest PL with air-independent energy installations (VNEU) – four ave. 039A, six ave. 039B), the aircraft carrier Liaoning, 16 destroyers (four ave. 055 (actually cruisers), eight ave. 052D, two ave. 052, two ave. 051C), 11 frigates (nine ave. 054A, two ave. 053N3), 15 corvettes (or small frigates) ave. 056/056A, more than nine missile boats (two ave. 037-IG, at least seven ave. 022), six patrol boats ave. 037-IS and a significant number of boats ave. 062 and 037 (" Mosquito fleet is a thing of the past ", "HBO", 03.09.21), 11 minesweepers (four ave. 082-II, two ave. 082-I, five ave. 081A), four tank landing craft (TDK) (two ave. 072A, two ave. 074A).
The aviation of the Northern Fleet includes two air divisions, an air brigade and an air regiment.
The 2nd Air Division has the 4th and 6th regiments (their aircraft carry numbers 9x1 or 85x2x) with Y-8 transport aircraft, KJ-200 and KJ-500 long-range radar detection (AWACS) aircraft, and Y-9GB electronic warfare aircraft. As well as the 5th Regiment (numbers 9xx3 and 9xx6) with SH-5 amphibious aircraft (possibly already decommissioned), Z-8 and Z-9 helicopters.
The 5th Air Division has the 13th Regiment (numbers 82x7x) with JH-7A bombers and the 15th Regiment (numbers 83x5x) with J-8F fighter-bombers and JL-9 training aircraft. The former 14th regiment of this division became a separate 14th aviation brigade (numbers 82x5x) with JH-7A ("The sky darkens from red dragons ", "HBO", 03/18/12).
In addition, there is an AWACS regiment with KJ-200 and KJ-500 aircraft and transport Y-8 and Y-9 (" Air cabs of the Celestial Empire ", "HVO", 28.01.22).
The SF Marines include the 5th and 6th Brigades.
ALLIES ACROSS THE RIVERHeilongjiang ("Black Dragon River") is the Chinese name for the Amur River.
The Chinese province located on the right bank of the Amur bears the same name (it accounts for most of the Russian-Chinese border).
The 78th Army Group is stationed in Heilongjiang Province - the only one in the PLA ground forces that has three heavy combined arms brigades with Tour 99/99A tanks, and one of two army groups that includes four heavy brigades (the second is the 71st Army Group of the Eastern Command, but all brigades there are equipped with tanks Tour 96 / 96A). There is, however, the 82nd army group of the Central Command, which also has four heavy brigades, while two or three are with Tour 99/99A tanks, but the 82nd is a non-standard group, it does not have six, as in the rest, but seven combined arms brigades.
Thus, the 78th Army Group can be considered the strongest in the PLA ground forces, especially given the presence in its artillery brigade of the latest ultra-long-range Round 16 MLRS. Why the strongest Chinese army group is stationed near the border with Russia is not even a rhetorical question, but almost indecent ("Is the Eastern District ready to stand to death ", "HVO", 12/17/20).
The natural reserve for the 78th Army Group is the 79th Army Group (two more heavy brigades, including one with Tour 99). But now the main direction for the 79th group is Korean. At the same time, who exactly is considered there as the main opponent is an extremely ambiguous question. Officially, of course, this is the South Korean army and the American 8th Field Army stationed in the Republic of Korea (" Two Koreas on the scales of military scales ", "HBO", 21.10.22). But in fact, it is likely that the main enemy is the Korean People's Army (" Chinese views on North Korea ", "HBO", 30.09.22).
The 80th Army Group, as mentioned above, is geographically isolated from the rest of the UK and is rather a reserve for the Eastern Command ("There is such a job – to reunite the Chinese homeland ", "HVO", 07.10.22). That is why it is the weakest in the Northern Command. As compensation, the UK has as a reserve two very powerful army groups of the Central Command – the 81st and 82nd (they will be discussed in the corresponding article).
In general, all ten PLA heavy combined arms brigades and one heavy regiment equipped with Toure 99/99A tanks are aimed at Russia and Mongolia (possibly even Korea). Apparently, there is no point in asking any questions about this at all.
Alexander KhramchikhinAlexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
