People's Liberation Army Navy - Air Force Branch
The PLA Navy’s aviation forces are known as Naval Aviation. Naval Aviation is ranked third in protocol order among the PLAN's five branches. Besides aircraft and airfields, Naval Aviation has subordinate antiaircraft artillery (AAA), radar, communications, chemical defense, aircraft maintenance, and logistics units, as well as various academies.
The mission of the PLAN Air Force or PLANAF, is to provide air defense of ports and naval installations as well as air protection for fleet units. Other tasks that fall within its purview include ASuW, maritime reconnaissance, aerial minelaying, ASW operations, ground attack, and limited logistics support. The Naval Air Force would augment the PLAAF during hostilities (and vice versa).
Naval Aviation is ranked third in protocol order among the PLAN’s five branches. Besides aircraft and airfields, Naval Aviation has subordinate antiaircraft artillery (AAA), radar, communications, chemical defense, aircraft maintenance, and logistics units, as well as various academies.
The PLANAF operates a mixture of B-6 BADGER and B-5 BEAGLE bombers; Q-5 FANTAN, F-6 FARMER, and F-7 FISHBEDs. The PLANAF also fields SUPER FREOLON and DAUPHIN helicopters and small transports.
An unidentified NAF Division is reported to have conducted a number of night training early 2003, conducting three night training exercises over water. This coupled with efforts to train ground crews in night operations allowed the division to more than double its night training time compared to previous years. This training was done to meet requirements of the new MTEP. The report goes on to state that the division created manuals for flight and ground crews on night operations, possibly indicating that the formulation of tactics and doctrine is evolving at the unit rather than national level. [Liberation Army Daily 8 Feb 2003 (PLA Activities Report February 2003)]
