Chinese PLA Airborne Forces Support to Amphibious Landings

by Mr. Carl E. Pales

Highlights

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is gradually building a greater capability for amphibious and airborne operations. The tactics for using these forces are not being developed separately but integrated to fight a "local war under high-technology conditions." The PLA plans to use airborne forces, deployed by both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, to flank defending enemy forces, divert their attention from PLA amphibious forces approaching landing areas, and seize key terrain features behind coastal areas. The PLA has large numbers of troops capable of carrying out such airborne operations. However, limited air transport assets will continue to generate a gap between doctrine and capabilities.

Discussion

"No battle plan survives its first contact with the enemy." This old axiom is particularly true of airborne and amphibious operations, which are particularly complex and vulnerable to becoming unhinged when attempted. However, the payoff of a successfully executed amphibious operation with airborne support can be huge: rapid seizure of a beach head, demoralization of enemy forces in the area, and ever greater opportunities to exploit a breakthrough.

The PLA is increasingly interested in amphibious and airmobile operations as part of its effort to fight "regional wars under high-technology conditions." This doctrine envisions the PLA using more mobile and ready forces to fight smaller wars against enemies on its periphery. Recent events indicate that PLA amphibious operations are most likely to occur in the Taiwan Strait, although other countries along China's southern and eastern coasts also have reason to be concerned.

Despite having an Airborne Corps consisting of three divisions, the PLA's capability to conduct large-scale airborne or airmobile operations is relatively small due to a limited number of fixed- and rotary-wing airlift assets. An independent magazine in Hong Kong claims that the PLA Air Force can carry at most a lightly equipped infantry regiment in one drop. Therefore, the PLA will likely conduct airborne and airmobile assaults on a small scale, usually no more than a battalion.

PLA writers have frequently discussed planned tactics by airborne/airmobile troops in a variety of missions, including support of amphibious assaults and river crossing. Aerial insertions in support of landing operations are especially useful against targets where the lack of landing beaches suitable for large-scale amphibious landings restricts the number of points PLA forces could attack. Aircraft and helicopters, not facing such restrictions, can insert troops anywhere in the enemy rear, with only proximity to minor roads and suppression of local air defenses being required. The most vital mission for airborne or airmobile troops will be to seize key points along the coast early in an amphibious operation to prevent enemy ground forces from occupying the landing zone unhindered.

Current PLA doctrine discusses two primary types of airborne operations in support of coastal landings: "concentrated landings and splitting the enemy from many directions" and "aerial positioning with wedge splitting." "Concentrated landings" (see figure 1) call for landing airborne or airmobile troops at a single location in great strength, followed by attacks in multiple directions. This tactic is best used if an airfield can be quickly seized and cargo aircraft and helicopters can be used to quickly reinforce existing forces. Attacks can be conducted along multiple routes to split up enemy forces and defeat them piecemeal. In attacking a coastal site in particular, such a concentrated landing can isolate enemy forward positions.

Figure 1. Concentrated Landings and Splitting the
Enemy From Many Directions

While this tactic is relatively simple in concept, it calls for the rapid seizure of a large landing area and the deployment of a large ground force. For reasons stated above, the PLA currently has difficulty deploying such a large force quickly. Concentrating a lightly equipped and mostly foot-mobile force also presents the enemy with a single, highly vulnerable target for air and artillery strikes until it is properly dispersed.

Another type of airborne insertion useful in conjunction with amphibious landings is "aerial position with wedge splitting" of enemy forces (see figure 2). This tactic calls for insertions of multiple airborne forces at several key locations throughout the enemy defense, blocking critical roads and valleys and "wedging" into enemy defenses, isolating if not destroying enemy defensive positions. Doing so effectively can paralyze enemy forces. This tactic is best used when assaulting enemy coastal defenses where the terrain behind the beaches is mountainous or heavily forested.

Figure 2. Aerial Position With Wedge Splitting

The drawbacks of this latter method lie in its complexity. Both transport and ground forces must exhibit superb command, control, and communications with each other to coordinate landings and assaults at multiple points. Should one or more of the aerial insertions fail, the remaining forces will be that much more vulnerable to isolation and destruction by defending forces.

Conclusion

The greatest vulnerability of any airborne attack in conjunction with the offensive, particularly an amphibious offensive, is the reliance on rapid relief by ground troops before the lightly equipped and supplied airborne forces are annihilated. One needs only a cursory study of the imperfect but ultimately successful airdrops by allied forces on the night prior to D-Day in World War II to appreciate the difficulties the most prepared airborne landings can face, even with total air superiority.

The PLA's airborne and airmobile troops are still a relatively untested force, with grossly inadequate air transport capabilities supporting them. However, this inadequacy is gradually being reduced, and exercises are growing in their size and complexity. As tensions in the Taiwan Strait increase, so does the likelihood of these forces being used for the first time.