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 first Army SOF units were created in the 1990s.[6] At the end of the 1990s, each Military Region had an Army SOF or a special reconnaissance force of approximately 1,000 personnel.[7]:294
After 2013, the PLA placed increased emphasis on expanding its SOF.[7]:294
By 2022, PLA SOF had been expanded by converting conventional forces.[9]
Organization
Marine special forces in 2016.
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][10] which delegate less authority to team commanders. Conventional "centralized", rather than "task oriented", command style is used.[9]
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.
In 2014, the 82nd Special Forces Brigade acceptance criteria included passing a track and field exercises. Members received combat, mobility, infiltration and reconnaissance training.[32]
The training of the 85th Special Force Brigade includes carrying 25kg weights from an altitude of 3700 meters up to an altitude of 5300 meters along with completion of 6 events in 12 hours.[34]
The selection course for the PLARF Special Forces Unit consists of:[39]
Running 5km under 25 minutes while carrying 20kg of weight
Crossing a shaky bridge
Crossing a 20 meters tunnel which has a diameter of 50cm
Lifting a tire 60 times and crossing a balance beam
Crawling under a 25 meter long, 30 CM tall barbed wire net
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.[40]
Inter-service SOF training is rare, the most common being PLAGF SOF with PLAAF aircraft.[41]
Awards
Antropoid 2009: the Jinan Military Region SOF group (Now the 80th Special Forces Brigade)[29] won eight first places and six second places in 13 events.[42]
In the 2013 "Blade Sharpening" (砺刃—2013) military competition, which was the first ever PLASOF inter-unit competition, the 79th Special Forces Brigade won first place.[43]
Golden Owl 2015: the "Thunder Gods" airborne SOF wins first place.[44][45]
↑ 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.
↑ Yang, Yonggang; Zhang, Wenping; Wang, Wei (2014-09-24). Song, Kaiguo (ed.). "第二炮兵"利刃"特种部队训练酷图". Chinese Military. Archived from the original on 2025-03-30. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
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