People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces
Encyclopedia
The People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces is the Special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...

 branch of the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 People's Liberation Army Ground Force
People's Liberation Army Ground Force
The People's Liberation Army Ground Force is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army. Its regular forces consist of 1.7 million personnel, with an additional 800,000 personnel in reserve, making it the largest active standing army in the world, and second largest in terms of...

. It specialises in rapid reaction combat in a limited regional war under high-tech conditions, commando operations, counter-terrorism, and intelligence gathering. Although the size of the Special Operations Forces is classified
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...

, it is estimated to number 7,000 ~ 14,000 troops.

History

The PLA first became interested in modern special warfare in the mid-1980s when it was shifting from the "people's war" to "fighting a local war under hi-tech conditions." The PLA planners believed that the next war would be a short, fast-pace conflict on the periphery rather than a total war on Chinese territories, and conventional infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

-orientated ground forces in their mass numbers could no longer meet the requirements.

On 23 December 2008, their first publicly-known mission was to accompany three Chinese warships in protecting and escorting commercial ships against the Somali pirates
Piracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...

, in cooperation with other nations as part of a UN mandate.

Special Reconnaissance

  • Guangzhou Military Region Special Forces Unit - Established in 1988 as the PLA’s first special reconnaissance group, and was later expanded in 2000 to become the first PLA special operations unit to be capable of air-, sea-, and land-operations.
  • Chengdu Military Region Special Forces Unit – Nickname “Falcon”. Established in 1992, this unit is specialised in target locating and indicating, airborne insertion, sabotage and offensive strike, and emergency evacuation. The unit was also used by Chengdu MR to experiment with various new concept equipments and tactics, including the digitised army soldier system and high-mobility land weapon platforms.
  • Beijing Military Region Special Forces Unit - Established in the early 1990s, this unit is equipped with various “high-tech” equipment including unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle (UARV), individual explosion devices and handheld laser dazzling weapons.
  • Shenyang Military Region Special Forces Unit
  • Nanjing Military Region Special Forces Unit - Nickname “Flying Dragon”
  • Nanjing Military Region Special Forces Unit - Nickname “Oscar”
  • Lanzhou Military Region Special Forces Unit
  • Hong Kong Special Ops Company - Nickname "5 minute Response Unit"
    • Macau Quick Reaction Platoon

External links

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