How many fighters does China have?

Totoro

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Ive looked into plaaf's su30 and i have a theory which would indicate there are actually 3 regiments of 24 operational. Scramble's list has 5 bases where su30mkk are present. A FTTC base, with probably a token number of planes, and four different bases with four different regiments. According to scramble, 3 of those are pure su30mkk regiments. 4th one, based at suixi, 2nd division, 6th regiment, allegedly has j11, su27 and su30mkk. That doesnt make too much sense to me. Mixing fighters and attack groups within a single squadron? As most confirmations about scramble's plaaf orbat comes from various sightings, i find it plausible someone just saw su27ubk there and mistakenly took them for su30s. Also, If there were 4 regiments of 19 planes, that would leave no planes for fttc base, which i find not very likely, as it has every other type of plane. There always has to be anumber of planes researching new tactics and testing stuff, and 3 regiments of 24 su30 leave four more su30 for the fttc, which sounds about right.

Likewise, and especially considering su30mk2 regiment within planaf has 24 planes, i do believe standard regiment size for both plaaf and planaf, regardless of type of plane is 24 aircraft. That includes all the su30 and all the jh7 versions both in planaf and plaaf.

Possible exceptions to that are h6 regiments, which may be smaller.

Also, 28 plane j10 regiments always hangars/shelters on all their bases divided into two groups. A large section of 24 shelters, and a small section of 4 more shelters. That would indicate to me standard combat part of a j10 regiment is also 24 planes, with 4 more planes being probably j10s, twoseater variants, for specialized training. I do believe i saw a similar thing at j11 bases, as well.

Is there anyhting which would make my conclusions here highly unlikely?
 

Maggern

Junior Member
Ive looked into plaaf's su30 and i have a theory which would indicate there are actually 3 regiments of 24 operational. Scramble's list has 5 bases where su30mkk are present. A FTTC base, with probably a token number of planes, and four different bases with four different regiments. According to scramble, 3 of those are pure su30mkk regiments. 4th one, based at suixi, 2nd division, 6th regiment, allegedly has j11, su27 and su30mkk. That doesnt make too much sense to me. Mixing fighters and attack groups within a single squadron? As most confirmations about scramble's plaaf orbat comes from various sightings, i find it plausible someone just saw su27ubk there and mistakenly took them for su30s. Also, If there were 4 regiments of 19 planes, that would leave no planes for fttc base, which i find not very likely, as it has every other type of plane. There always has to be anumber of planes researching new tactics and testing stuff, and 3 regiments of 24 su30 leave four more su30 for the fttc, which sounds about right.

Likewise, and especially considering su30mk2 regiment within planaf has 24 planes, i do believe standard regiment size for both plaaf and planaf, regardless of type of plane is 24 aircraft. That includes all the su30 and all the jh7 versions both in planaf and plaaf.

Possible exceptions to that are h6 regiments, which may be smaller.

Also, 28 plane j10 regiments always hangars/shelters on all their bases divided into two groups. A large section of 24 shelters, and a small section of 4 more shelters. That would indicate to me standard combat part of a j10 regiment is also 24 planes, with 4 more planes being probably j10s, twoseater variants, for specialized training. I do believe i saw a similar thing at j11 bases, as well.

Is there anyhting which would make my conclusions here highly unlikely?

I'm way over my head here, but perhaps the extra craft are replacements? I know Norway keeps a number of F-16 out of operations in case some of the operational ones tire too much. Then again, those craft are 30 years old..
 

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
Well, i'm officially lost. I've been looking at various bases on google earth, according to scramble.nl locations and there doesnt seem to be a clear pattern.

I've found multiple alleged jh7 bases with 24 shelters. I've found one with 27 shelters. I've found su30 bases with 24 parking spaces, i've found a su30 base with exactly 19 shelters. And h6 are a total mystery. I've found a base with 16 parking spaces for h6, one with 18 parking spaces, and two more, large h6 bases with tons of parking space, one had 21 bombers on it, the other 33!

Help. Anyone?
 

tphuang

Lieutenant General
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totoro, check huitong's site
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you can see the identified units of all the major fighter jets in there and see that su-30 regiments are less than 20.
 

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
Thanks, i took those into consideration. My newest theory is: PLAAF uses a 18-20 plane regiment for its strike regiments - su30s and jh7s. GE pics of bases that, according to scramble.nl, use those planes, support that, as they tend to have 18 parking spaces or 20 hangars, etc.

On the other hand, we know PLANAF has a 24 plane su30mk2 regiment, and GE pics of several alleged Planaf jh7 bases feature 24 shelters. So I shall conclude PLANAF uses a 24 plane strike regiment.

Similar discrepancy may exist in PLAAF's and PLANAF's use of H6 regiments.

The only real question that I have remaining is Q5 regiments. 24 planes? Less? More?
 

HKSDU

Junior Member
After 2 years retirement the thread is back alive.

Need your guys help for correction, etc....
How many regiments do we have of:
J-10
J-11
J-11B
JH-7/A

I left out Su-27 cause I have no idea where they are.

Anyway here is my stab at it.
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Where have the old guns disappeared to. Calling out
Crobato, Planeman, FugitiveVision ....
 
Last edited:

franco-russe

Senior Member
That looks about right. Two corrections and two additions, though:

The 37 Div J-11B regiment is almost certainly 111 (recovered serial is most likely 41285). Also, shelters are reported to have been built at Korla.

The naval J-11BH regiment is 22 Regt.

Two missing regiments:

57 Regt/19 Div with J-11B – see Flanker thread posts # 1370-1372 about serial 31002.

Naval 12 Regt/4 Div with J-10AH

The SU-27SK are mixed up in regiments with J-11(A), so they are covered by your list.
 

Deino

Lieutenant General
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Yepp ... but what's about the two regiments within the 6th and 29th Division ?? Are they still flying J-11 or have they upgraded to the B as sometimes reported (but I still don't have a photo) :(

Deino
 

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
also, isnt there another jh7 regiment with planaf? there should be 5 planaf regiments all in all, and 3 plaaf jh7 regiments.
 
how many su-27, j-8, j-7 remains in active service? or what's the total number of active combat aircraft, and the % the post j-8 aircraft number dominates ?
 
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