How China Prepares & Trains its Fighter Pilots For Air War – Seeks Global Reach

By Ken Allen — Former Air Force Officer & Assistant Air Attache, US Embassy Beijing & Warrior Maven Senior Long-Term China Military Analyst

This report was first published in 2021 by Air University’s China Aerospace Studies Institute

https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/Research/PLAAF/2018-05-01%20PLAAF%20Key%20Training%20Brands.pdf

By Jana Allen and Kenneth Allen

Introduction —– The PLA Air Force’s Four Key Training Brands

Guided by its service-specific strategy to “integrate air and space and be simultaneously prepared for offensive and defensive operations,” which was approved in 20041 , the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) is pursuing an ambitious path of modernization to transform itself from an inward focused homeland air defense force to a world-class “strategic air force” 2 capable of playing a decisive role in China’s national security and military strategy.

To this end, over the past decade the PLAAF has fielded increasingly modern and more capable equipment and weapon systems. Its likelihood to achieve victory, however, in informatized, high-intensity combat in a complex electromagnetic environment (CEME) is contingent on more than equipment modernization. 

Success in modern warfare also necessitates highly trained personnel who can adapt to tactical scenarios in a combat environment and perform sustained combat operations at their home bases and in deployed locations. After taking power in late 2012, Chinese President and Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman Xi Jinping put forth a vision for building a strong China, known as the “Chinese Dream” (中国梦). The modernization of China’s military is essential to the success of this strategy, as a strong PLA is viewed as a prerequisite for “building a well-off society” and “rejuvenating the Chinese nation.”4