(2021-2025), represents the start of the new three-step development strategy that continues Xi’s approach of military reform to transform the PLA. The original three-step modernization strategy sought to achieve mechanization by 2020; modernization of military theory, organization, personnel, and equipment by 2035; and to become a world-class force by mid-century. With basic mechanization considered achieved in 2020, the 2027 goal is a short-term marker and represents a modification, not a compression in timeline, for China’s ambition to achieve complete military modernization of the PLA by 2035. The PLA centenary goal set by the CCP accelerates the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization and to field a combat-ready force with improved strategic capabilities to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests by 2027.
PLA modernization in training includes realistic simulation and use of virtual reality and enhancing the military’s strategic capacity. The PLA has a minimal reliance on imports and has the ability to independently manufacture and develop equipment comparable to the most advanced U.S. and Russian equipment, accelerating their ability to modernize. The CCP continues to prioritize modernizing PLA activities in near and distant battlefields by integrating system-vssystem operations featuring information dominance, precision strikes, and joint operations.
PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY ARMY (PLAA)
Key Takeaways
- The PLAA continues to modernize equipment and focus on combined arms and joint training in effort to meet the goal of becoming a world-class military.
- The PLAA demonstrated a new long-range fire capability in the PLA military response to the August 2022 U.S. CODEL visit to Taiwan.
- The PLAA continues to incorporate a twice-a-year conscript intake. The long-term effects of the policy are not clear.
The PLAA has approximately 970,000 active-duty personnel in combat units and is the primary ground fighting force in the PLA. The 2020 National Defense University’s Science of Military Strategy described the PLAA’s development as a transition from a regional defense to a global combat force.
Force Structure and Organization. The PLAA continues to replace legacy equipment with newer systems. The major force restructuring required by the 2016 and 2017 PLA reforms is complete, but many units are still in the process of upgrading equipment.
The PLAA is organized into five Theater Army Commands, the Xinjiang Military District, and the Tibet Military District. The PLAA has 13 group armies, which are comprised of multiple combined-arms brigades that serve as the PLAA's primary maneuver force. The brigades vary in size and composition. The PLAA delineates its combined-arms brigades into three types: light
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
