In the People's Republic of China, the special operations forces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA SOF) are units that conduct direct action and reconnaissance, including in enemy rear areas, to prepare the advance of friendly forces; they also perform counter-terrorism operations, although that mission is formally assigned to People's Armed Police. PLA SOF does not control, but may support, psychological warfare operations.[1]
Each theater command controls their own SOF units. The units rely on external support to conduct missions.[2] Most ground SOF are organized like conventional light infantry units.[3] In 2022, many units were recently converted from conventional forces and likely had capabilities closer to shock troops than special forces.[4]
The PLA SOF is divided into 2000-3000 personnel brigades or 1000-2000 personnel regiments.[2] Brigades are internally organized like conventional PLAGF brigades with the "brigade-battalion-company-team" hierarchy,[2][9] which delegate less authority to team commanders. Conventional "centralized", rather than "task oriented", command style is used.[7]
China does not have a national-level command for SOF (like the USA's SOCOM). Theater Commands control their own SOF units.[2] Each group army contains a SOF brigade.[5] Units have discrete missions depending on their location and branch.[2]
Each of the SOF brigades has a semi-formal cognomen as well as a number (which is usually identical to the group army they are subordinated to). The special Xinjiang and Tibet military districts also have their own brigades. The Navy, the Air Force, and the Rocket Force all deploy their own units.
Special Forces Regiment "Sharp Blade" (利刃)[29][30]
Capability
SOF receive priority for quality personnel[2] and new equipment.[3]
All SOC units are airborne and air assault capable.[3]
SOF has limited organic dedicated infrastructure of support.[2] It relies on theater logistics[3] and external resources to carry out missions. The PLAAFAC provides all SOF units with tactical insertion, extraction, and resupply.[2] SOF operations in the enemy rear are restricted by the limited ability of conventional forces to support them. SOF and conventional brigades suffer similar problems with command and control, including communications inside SOF brigades and between SOF and conventional units.[3]
According to Chen and Wuthnow in 2022, the command structure and mission of most PLA SOF brigades resembled the United States Army Rangers rather than Delta Force.[31]
Inter-service SOF training is rare, the most common being PLAGF SOF with PLAAF aircraft.[32]
Awards
Antropoid 2009: the Jinan Military Region SOF group won eight first places and six second places in 13 events.[33]
Golden Owl 2015: the "Thunder Gods" airborne SOF wins first place.[34][35]
^Ma, Xiu. "PLA Rocket Force Organization"(PDF). Air University. China Aerospace Studies Institute. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-24. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
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