The command that guards Beijing and serves as a general reserveAs a result of the 2017 military reform ("New Great Wall of China", "NWO", 10/20/17), the Beijing Military District and part of the Jinnan Military District of the PLA turned into the Central Command (Central Combat Command Zone) with headquarters in Beijing.
Its area of responsibility includes the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, the provinces of Hebei, Hubei, Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi. [...]
FROM SIX TO SEVENThe headquarters of the ground forces of the Central Command is located in the city of Shijiazhuang, three army groups are subordinate to it.
The 81st Army Group (headquarters in Zhangjiakou city, formerly the 65th Army Group) includes the 70th Light, 162nd and 189th medium, 7th, 194th and 195th Heavy combined arms brigades, 81st Artillery Brigade, 81st Special Forces Brigade, 81st Air Defense Brigade (Air Defense), 81st Army Aviation Brigade, 81st Engineering Brigade, 81st Support Brigade. The 195th brigade is conventionally called "blue", it imitates the enemy during PLA exercises.
82nd Army Group (headquarters in Baoding city, former 38th Army Group) includes 80th, 196th Light, 127th medium, 6th, 112th, 151st, 188th Heavy Combined Arms Brigades, 82nd Artillery Brigade, 82ndThe 1st Air Defense Brigade, the 82nd Special Forces Brigade, the 82nd Army Aviation Brigade, the 82nd Engineering Brigade, the 82nd support Brigade. It should be noted that the 82nd Army Group became the first and so far the only one in the PLA, including not six, but seven combined-arms brigades. This is due to the fact that the 112th Mechanized Division remained in the Central Command, but in 2019 it was disbanded, and its main forces became the 112th heavy Combined Arms Brigade.
The 83rd Army Group (headquarters in Xinxiang city, the former 54th Army Group) includes the 11th Heavy, 58th, 60th, 113th, 131st, 193rd medium combined arms brigades, 161st Airborne Assault Brigade, 83rd Special Forces Brigade, 83rd artillery Brigade, 83rd Air Defense Brigade, 83rd engineering Brigade, 83rd support brigade.
The 7th, 11th, 188th and 195th Heavy Brigades are equipped with Tour 96/96A tanks, although the 195th also has Tour 99 tanks. The latter also entered service with the 112th, 151st and 194th heavy brigades. As for the 6th Heavy Brigade, there may still be Ture 88 tanks in it, but they are supposed to be replaced by Ture 99. In the same 6th brigade, as well as in the 11th, infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) Tour 86 are still in service, in other heavy brigades they have been replaced by Tour 04/04A.
At least in the 7th and 194th brigades there are 122-mm tracked multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) PHZ-10/11, as well as anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) HQ-17, anti-aircraft missile man-portable complexes (ZRPK) Tour 95 and anti-aircraft self-propelled guns (ZSU) Tour 09.
In the 188th brigade, 122-mm self-propelled artillery units (ACS) Tour 89 and 152-mm Tour 83 remain in service. Tour 89 is also available in the 7th Brigade, but is already being replaced by Tour 07. The "blue" brigade has a full set of modern equipment (ACS Tour 07, ZRPK Tour 95, ZSU Tour 09, SAM HQ-17).
Of the eight medium brigades, seven are equipped with the ZTL-11 wheeled assault gun, standard for this type of formations. Of these, the 60th, 162nd, 189th and 193rd brigades received wheeled armored personnel carriers (APC) ZBL-08. In the 58th and 113th brigades, their predecessors ZSL-92 remain, and in the 127th brigade there are armored personnel carriers of both these types. It differs from all the 131st medium brigade, where, apparently, instead of the ZTL-11 there is a wheeled self-propelled gun Tour 09, while tracked armored personnel carriers Tour 89 are still in service (" Chinese armored vehicles are reaching the world level ", "HBO", 08/19/12). At least in the 60th and The 193rd Brigades have HQ-7 air defense systems.
Light brigades are equipped mainly with motor vehicles and towed artillery (" Brigades of the Communist War ", "HVO", 09/16/12).
The 81st and 82nd Army Aviation Brigades and the 161st Airborne Assault Brigade, equipped with Z-8/9/10/19 and Mi-17 helicopters, have a standard overall composition. At the same time, the 161st brigade receives the latest Z-20 helicopters (" Celestial Rotorcraft Empire ", "HVO", 17.12.21).
In artillery brigades there are 300-mm MLRS Tour 03, in the 82nd brigade, apparently, 152-mm towed guns Tour 66 remain in service. As for 155-mm self-propelled guns, in the 82nd (and, obviously, in the 81st) brigade there are tracked self-propelled guns Tour 05, in 83rd – wheeled PCL-181 (" New Chinese Wall of fire ", "HBO", 05.08.22).
The 81st and 83rd air defense Brigades have one or two divisions of HQ-16 and HQ-7 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMS) in their composition, the 82nd Brigade has one division of HQ-16, HQ–7, HQ-17 (" Evolution of the Chinese Umbrella ", "HBO", 25.03.22).
Directly subordinate to the headquarters of the Central Command are the 5th Reconnaissance Brigade and the 5th Electronic Warfare Brigade (EW).
In addition, an association reporting directly to the PLA headquarters is stationed in the area of responsibility of the Central Command – this is the Beijing garrison. The 1st division of this garrison includes the 3rd (heavy), 4th and 5th (light), 6th (Special forces) regiments, as well as the ceremonial brigade. The 3rd Division consists of the 11th, 13th (Special Forces) and 14th security regiments. The Reserve Air Defense Division of the Beijing Garrison includes five (1st - 5th) air defense regiments. There is also a 17th guard regiment in the garrison.
PILOTS AND PARATROOPERSThe headquarters of the Central Command Air Force is located in Beijing.
The training and testing Center is under the dual subordination of the Central Command and the PLA Air Force Command and includes seven brigades. The 151st brigade (its vehicles carry the 76x2x tail numbers) is equipped with the WD-1K and GJ-1 combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The 170th Brigade (numbers 78x1x) is armed with J-10 light fighters and JL-9 training aircraft. The 171st Brigade (numbers 78x2x) - J-11VS, J-10, J-8B fighters and training aircraft JL-9. 172nd Brigade (numbers 78x3x) – 5th generation fighters J-20 and heavy fighter-bombers Su-30MKK and J-16. 173rd Brigade (numbers 78x4x) – training aircraft JL-8 and JL-9. 175th Brigade (numbers 78x6x) - combat aircraft of almost all types. 176th Brigade (numbers 78x7x) – 5th generation fighters J-20 and fighter-bombers J-16. 177th Brigade (numbers 78x8x) – heavy fighters J- 11B.
The 34th Air Division is also in double subordination and includes the 100th regiment (numbers 21xx) with transport and passenger aircraft "Boeing-737", CRJ-200, CRJ-700, with helicopters EC225, AS332L in the VIP version. As well as the 102nd Regiment (numbers B-4xxxx) with Boeing-737, Tu-154, and Lirjet-35 aircraft used in the interests of the PRC space program and as electronic reconnaissance aircraft (RER) (" Air cabs of the Celestial Empire ", "HBO", 28.01.22).
The 7th Air Division (numbers 1xx8x) includes the 20th regiment with J-7II fighters (" Through the thorns to the fifth generation ", "HVO", 02/25/12).
The 13th Air Division (numbers 2x4x) includes the 37th regiment with Y-8C transport aircraft, the 38th regiment with Y-7, Il-76 transport aircraft and Il-78 tankers, the 39th regiment with Il-76. The latter may have been transferred to the Western Command (" Wild West in Chinese ", "HBO", 28.10.22).
The 19th Air Division (numbers 3xx0x) includes the 57th Regiment with J-7II.
The 36th Air Division (numbers 4xx7x) includes the 107th and 108th regiments of H-6N/M bombers ("The sky darkens from red dragons ", "HVO", 03/18/12).
The 19th Aviation Brigade (numbers 63x0x) is armed with J-11B fighters. The 21st Aviation brigade (numbers 63x2x) – J-7II. 55th Aviation Brigade (numbers 66x6x) – J-11 and Su-27. 43rd Aviation Brigade (numbers 65x4x), 56th Aviation Brigade (numbers 66x7x), 70th Aviation Brigade (numbers 68x1x) and 72nd Aviation Brigade (numbers 68x3x) – J-10 (in 56-They are replaced by the J-20 brigade). The 106th brigade (numbers 55x3x) – N-6K/N bombers. Transport and rescue brigade (numbers 55x1x, 55x4x) – transport planes Y-5, Y-7, Y-8, Y-9, helicopters Z-8, Z-9.
The reconnaissance regiment (numbers B-41xx) is armed with Y-8H, Y-12, An-30 aircraft. The August 1 aerobatic team is equipped with J-10 aircraft.
There is an Aircraft Storage Center (in the city of Lushan), where decommissioned aircraft of old types are sent, some of them are converted into combat UAVs there. We can say that this is the "Chinese Davis-Monthan" (the American air base in Tucson, Arizona, where the largest fleet of aircraft is stored for conservation – more than 4,400 units, as well as 40 spacecraft).
The 4th anti-aircraft Missile Division has in its composition the 2nd anti-aircraft missile regiment with four divisions (presumably the 35th, 69th, 82nd, 112th) HQ-12 SAM, the 11th anti-aircraft missile regiment with a division (2nd) HQ SAM-9 and two divisions (41st, 85th) of the S-300PMU air defense system, the 12th anti-aircraft missile regiment with three divisions (50th, 80th, 84th) of the HQ-9 air defense system and the 83rd division with HQ-9 or HQ-22.
The 5th Anti-aircraft Missile Division has in its composition the 3rd anti-aircraft missile Regiment with the 96th division of the HQ-22 air defense system and four divisions (51st, 92nd, 93rd, 97th) of the HQ-2 or HQ-22 air defense system, the 10th anti-aircraft-missile regiment with three divisions (37th, 70th, 95th) SAM HQ-7, 13th anti-aircraft missile regiment with four divisions (3rd, 33rd, 56th, 81st) SAM S-300PMU1, 17th anti-aircraft- a missile regiment with two divisions of the S-400 air defense system.
The 6th Anti-aircraft Missile Division includes the 14th and 16th anti-aircraft missile regiments, five divisions each (1st, 23rd, 49th, 58th, 99th in the 14th SAM, 13th, 52nd, 78th, 79th, 98th in the 16th zrp) SAM HQ-2 or HQ-22 in each.
The 9th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade and the 17th Anti-aircraft missile Brigade have five (17th, 28th, 44th, 55th, 89th) and six (12th, 15th, 18th, 25th, respectively, 34th, 87th) divisions of the HQ-9 air defense System ("The Celestial Empire looks after the heavens ", "HBO", 04/15/12).
In addition, in the area of responsibility of the Central Command (in its southern part), the only airborne unit in the PLA is located – the Airborne Corps (before the 2017 reform, it was called the 15th Airborne Corps). It includes the 127th, 128th, 130th, 131st, 133rd and 134th airborne brigades, as well as special forces, support and aviation brigades. Operationally, the Airborne Corps reports directly to the PLA Air Force Headquarters.
RESERVE FOR ALLThe area of responsibility of the Central Command does not have access to the external borders of the PRC and only in a small area goes to the coast of the Bohai Gulf (therefore, there are no naval associations in the command).
Accordingly, the troops of the Central Command carry out the function of defending the capital (this explains the presence of an extremely powerful ground air defense group), work out new ways of conducting combat operations and master new equipment, and also represent a reserve for other commands.
At the same time, from the point of view of deployment, the 81st and 82nd army groups are a reserve primarily for the Northern Command (" Beijing keeps the best troops closer to Russia ", "HVO", 11.11.22) with a direction to Russia and Mongolia, therefore heavy combined arms brigades predominate in them. The 83rd Army Group is a reserve primarily for the Eastern Command ("There is such a job – to reunite the Chinese homeland ", "HVO", 07.10.22), therefore it has such a unique composition in the PLA (five of the six combined arms brigades are medium).
It is unclear whether the expansion of the 82nd Army Group from six to seven combined arms brigades will become a precedent for other army groups. However, it is extremely unlikely that after the re-equipment of all existing PLA units with new equipment, its production will stop.
Alexander KhramchikhinAlexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
