The 8th Fighter Brigade () is a fighter aircraft unit of the

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

. Previously the 8th Fighter Regiment of the 3rd Air Division, the unit serves as part of the

Eastern Theater Command Air Force The Eastern Theater Command Air Force is the air force under the Eastern Theater Command. Its headquarters is in Nanjing, Jiangsu. The current commander is Wu Junbao and the current political commissar is . History On 1 February 2016, the fo ...

, responsible for conflict in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

and

Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a strait separating the island of Taiwan and the Asian continent. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. Names Former names of the Tai ...

History

In June 1950, sixteen months after the formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and seven months following the establishment of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), the 4th Composite Air Brigade was established in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Modeled on the 90th Division of the Chinese 30th Army, the new 4th Composite Air Brigade formed the subordinate 10th, 11th, and 12th Air Regiments. By the end of 1950, the unit had been renamed to the 4th Air Division and headquarters relocated to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. The PLAAF then also established the 2nd and 3rd Composite Air Brigades. The 2nd Composite Air Brigade would become the 2nd Air Division, the 3rd Composite Air Brigade would become the

3rd Air Division The 3rd Air Division (3d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, being stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. It was inactivated on 1 April 1992. T ...

, and the 4th Composite Air Brigade would become the 1st Air Division. Sixty-three pilots of the 3rd Air Division participated in the 1950–1953 Korean War claiming 3,465 sorties, 87 shoot-downs of enemy aircraft, and combat losses of 27 aircraft. Following the war's conclusion, the 3rd Air Division was moved from

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

Liaoning Province ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

to Jiaxing Air Base in

Zhejiang Province ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

to join the East China Military Region. Reflective of the division's importance, the 3rd Air Division was the first to be equipped with imported Russian

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames include: "''Balalaika''", because its planf ...

and domestically-produced

Chengdu J-7 The Chengdu J-7 (wikt:歼, Chinese: 歼-7; third generation export version F-7; NATO reporting name: Fishcan) is a People's Republic of China, Chinese fighter aircraft. It is a licensed production, license-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gur ...

fighters. In 1992 the 3rd Air Division was the first unit to receive Russian Sukhoi Su-27UBK aircraft (at a cost of ($1 billion) and, in 2000, received the first

Sukhoi Su-30 The Sukhoi Su-30 (; NATO reporting name: Flanker-C/G/H) is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft developed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weath ...

s at Wuhu Air Base. In 2006, the unit replaced its J-7 fighters with J-10 fighters. J-20_at_Airshow_China_2016

In 2017, with the PLA-wide reforms that replaced military regions with theater commands and the PLAAF reforms that disestablished divisions, the 3rd Air Division was reassigned from the Nanjing Military Region Air Force to the Eastern Theater Command Air Force and its subordinate regiments (7th, 8th, and 9th Fighter Regiments) were formed into brigades. The former 8th Regiment of the 3rd Air Division is today's 8th Fighter Brigade.

Activities

Today, the 8th Fighter Brigade operates J-10A fighter aircraft, and as of mid-2022, is replacing its J-10As with Chengdu J-20s, the most modern

stealth aircraft Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Ni ...

in the PLAAF inventory. Aircraft of the 8th Fighter Brigade operate out of

Changxing () is a county of the prefecture-level city of Huzhou, in the northwest of Zhejiang province, China. Situated on the southwest shore of Lake Tai, it borders the provinces of Jiangsu to the north and Anhui to the west. It has a total area of an ...

Air Base with tail numbers 61x9x.

References

{{Structure of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, state=expanded Brigades of the People's Liberation Army Fighter aircraft units and formations of the People's Republic of China Military units and formations established in 2017 2017 establishments in China