SECTION 7
HEADQUARTERS AIR FORCE, LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT

The Logistics Department (hougin bu/konghou) was established in November 1949, and was based on the Fourth Field Army's 6th department. The Logistics Department is responsible for supply, as well as support for operations, training, and living. Unlike the three other first level departments, the Logistics Department's command staff includes a director (Maj Gen), political commissar (Maj Gen), two deputy directors (Maj Gen), a chief of staff (Maj Gen), and two deputy chiefs of staff (Sr Col). The headquarters for the Logistics Department is the only one of the four first level departments which is not located within the HqAF compound. 

The Logistics Department has at least seventeen second level departments/ bureaus. It is also responsible for various research institutes and units, the Air Force general hospital and subordinate hospitals, the four stations equipment repair factories, and all air materiel depots. In 1985HqAF established a new office, which was called the HqAF Logistics Department Wuhan Office (kongjun houqin bu Wuhan banshichu), whose mission was to manage PLAAF factories and enterprises in that region.                                                                                             

The Logistics Department's basic mission is to provide supplies for PLAAF construction, operations, training and daily life. It carries out the primary missions in the following ways:                                                                          

- Deploys logistics forces 

- Handles logistics mobilization work 

- Provides procurement, allocation, acceptance testing, storage and care, maintenance and repair, transportation, and supply of AAA, SAMs, ammunition, radars, vehicles, and boats 

- Provides logistics training and education 

- Provides logistics management work                              

- Manages logistics equipment 

The Logistics Department's responsibilities for depot management include the following: 

- Improve storage techniques 

- Implement moistureproof measures 

- Implement safe protection and disposal measures 

- Formulate regulations for receipt and issue 

- Write regulations for warehouse personnel 

- Select warehouse personnel for school 

- Conduct on-the-job training (OJT) at the depot 

- Enhance mechanization and automation 

- Purchase complete sets of some machinery 

- Allocate microcomputers for management 

- Build some automated management warehouses that are equipped with elevated cubes. 

Officers are trained on three levels -- basic (chuji), intermediate (zhongji), and advanced (gaoji). Beginning in the 1950s, two schools and fifteen logistics specialty training regiments/units were created, but these were severely affected during the Cultural Revolution. Today, basic training is conducted at the PLAAF Logistics Academy (kongjun qinwu xueyuan) in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, for each of the specialties except medical. The PLAAF has its own Medical School (kongjun yixue zhuanke xuexiao/kongyixiao) in Jilin, Jilin Province. Intermediate training is conducted at the PLAAF Command College (kongjun zhihui xueyuan) in Beijing, and the General Logistics Department (GLD) provides advanced training at the Logistics Academy (houqin xueyuan) in Beijing. 

New enlisted logistics personnel receive training at one of several logistics training regiments (houqin xunlian zhuanye tuan), which are mostly independent regiments (duli tuan).

 Most of these regiments have several specialties, while some have only one or two. The size, scope, and number of the training regiments depends upon the specialty and the total number of PLAAF personnel who need that particular type of training. For example, there are more regiments for larger specialty fields, such as transportation or medical. Enlisted medical training is eight months long and transportation training is nine months. NCOs receive advanced training at Training Groups (xunlian dadui). For example, there is a radar training group in the Lanzhou MRAF. The PLAAF also has Training Regiments for specialized logistics troops (zhuanye bing). 

The Logistics Department is responsible for some equipment repair at vehicle repair factories (qiche xiuli chang), armament and radar repair factories (junxie leida xiuli chang), engineering equipment repair factories (gongcheng jixie xiuli chang), and aviation four stations repair factories (hangkong sizhan xiuli chang), all of which are subordinate to the Logistics Department. These repair factories are responsible for items such as vehicles, radar, armament, engineering equipment, and aircraft start vehicles and oxygen trucks. 

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT

The Headquarters Department (siling bu) is responsible for the functional control, including the budget, plans, and regulations, for all of the research institutes that belong to the Logistics Department. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Logistics Department established the Medical and Fuels Research Institutes. After the third plenum of the 11th Party Congress, research institutes such as those for capital construction, aviation munitions, and surface-to-air missiles were established. In addition, the Headquarters Department is like the General Office (bangongshi) within the other three first level departments, in that all of the staff actions from the other second level departments within the Logistics Department must first go through the Headquarters Department before reaching the director. This department has at least three subordinate divisions/offices.

 - The Science. Technology, and Equipment Division (keji zhuangbei chu) is responsible for logistics science and technology, and academic theory and research. It is also responsible for the budget, regulations, and assigning requirements to all of the research institutes within the Logistics Department. 

- Translation Office (fanyi shi)

 - Combat Support Division (zuozhan qinwu chu/zhanqin chu) 

POLITICAL DEPARTMENT

 The Political Department (zhen zhi bu) is responsible for all logistics personnel, propaganda, and political matters. 

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

The Finance Department (caiwu bu) requests therLAAF's funding, allocates the funds and budget, formulates the standardization system for logistics special use funds, and performs financial accounting. There is at least one division. 

- Accounting Division (kuaiji chu) 

Logistics funds are arranged by balancing income and expenditures, proceeding with authority, ensuring that the focal points (zhongdian) in the five year plan are met, and abiding by general principles. Basically; the GLD allocates two types of money to the PLAAF annually. One type is allocated to the Headquarters Department's Equipment Department for equipment purchases. The second type is allocated to the Aeronautical Engineering Department and Logistics Department for maintenance and spare parts, respectively. 

QUARTERMASTER DEPARTMENT

The Quartermaster Department (junxu bu) takes charge of quartermaster work by organizing planning, supply, and management of provisions and clothing. It is also responsible for quartermaster research. It has at least one division. 

- Clothing Division (beizhuan-g chu) 

HEALTH DEPARTMENT

The Health Department (weisheng bin is responsible for three key areas: organizing epidemic prevention, aviation health, and medical aid; family planning; supplying and managing medicine and medical equipment; and writing the regulations on all health matters. It is also responsible for all the PLAAF hospitals, the ten liaoyangyuan (pilot sanitoriums), the Medical School in Jilin, the administrative control of the Fourth (Aviation Medicine) Research Institute, and the health units down to the lowest level. There is at least one division. 

- Health Services Division (weisheng qinwu chu) 

The Logistics Department has four levels of health facilities as shown below, and each flying regiment (feixing tuan) has several flight surgeons assigned to a flight surgeon section: 

- Headquarters PLAAF general hospital (zong yiyuan) 

- A central hospital at each MRAF Headquarters level 

- A clinic (menzhenbu) at each unit headquarters 

- A Health Office or Team (weisheng ke/weisheng dui) at each unit's basic element 

Each pilot also has 30 days per year of convalescence at one of the following ten PLAAF sanitoriums (liaoyangyuan): 

City	Province	MRAF
Xingcheng	Liaoning	Shenyang
Dalian	Liaoning	Shenyang
Beidaihe	Hebei	Beijing
Xian, Lintong	Shaanxi	Lanzhou
Hangzhou	Zhejiang	Nanjing
Jiujiang, Lushan	Jiangxi	Nanjing
Guilin	Guangxi	Guangzhou
Wuhan, Donghu	Hubei	Guangzhou
Qingdao	Shandong	Jinan
Chengdu, Guanxian	Sichuan	Chengdu

ARMAMENT DEPARTMENT

The Armament Department (junxie bu) has a director, one deputy director, and 35 personnel assigned in the five divisions listed below: 

- Plans and Finance Division (iihua caiwu chu) 

- Aviation Munitions Division (hanekong danyao chu) is responsible for bombs, air-toair missiles, and rockets. 

- The Avionics/Electronics Division (dianzi chu) is responsible for computers. 

- Radar Division (leida chu) 

- The Surface-to-Air Missile Division (dikong daodan chu) is responsible for SAM and AAA production. 

TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT

The Transportation Department (yunshu bu) is responsible for maintenance and management of military transportation, vehicles, boats, and special rail lines and roads. It coordinates the PLAAF's monthly, quarterly, and annual rail transportation requirements with the GLD for shipping what amounts to almost all of the PLAAF's supplies throughout China. This department also has vehicle battalions, car repair facilities, and PLAAF boat troops (chuanting budui). The boat troops are stationed along the Yangzi river and the coast for supplying fuel to air bases. 

FUELS DEPARTMENT

The Fuels Department (youliao bu) is responsible for procurement, storage, supply, and management of fuel and fuel equipment. 

MATERIALS DEPARTMENT

The Materials Department (wuzi bu) is responsible for application, allocation, supply, management, and storage of all materials, excluding air materiel. The PLAAF has three types of materials as follows: 

- Common use material (tongyong wuzi) for PLAAF units is based on the GLD's unified plan, procurement, and supply. The GLD allocates a fixed amount of money to the PLAAF Logistics Department which can only be used to purchase a specified amount and type of common use material. For example, if "X" amount of money has been allocated to buy ten aircraft, then this money cannot be used to buy eight aircraft and five radar systems. 

- Specialized material (zhuanyong wuzi) for PLAAF units is organized and procured by HqAF. The GL.D allocates some money to the PLAAF Logistics TJeprjrrment for this specialized material, and the PLAAF can decide itself how to use this money to buy material from within the PLAAF. 

- Local materials needed by units can be purchased directly from the market from unit funds. 

AIRFIELD CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT

The Airfield Construction Department (xiujian bu) is primarily responsible for airfield runway construction. 

AIRFIELD AND BARRACK MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

The Airfield and Barracks Management Department (jichang_yinfang guanli bu/jiying), bud is responsible for airfield command shelter engineering, barracks management, design and construction of airports, battlefield shelters, cave warehouses, warehouses, fuel depots, factories, and housing, as well as daily maintenance of the housing area and base facilities. It has at least one division. 

- The Environment and Greening Division (huanjing luhua chu) is responsible for planting trees and environmental affairs. 

AIR MATERIEL DEPARTMENT

The Air Materiel Department (hangkong cailiao bu/hangcai bu) has a director, one deputy director, and 30 personnel assigned to six divisions to manage procurement, storage and supply of air materiel, and to organize the management and four stations services support for retired aviation equipment. The difference between the Materials Department and the Air Materiel Department is that the former is responsible for items such as lumber and concrete for the entire PLAAF, and the latter is responsible only for aircraft and aircraft support equipment for aviation troops. It is not responsible for radar, communications, airborne, SAM, or AAA troops. Unlike most of the other PLAAF logistics second level departments, the air materiel department does not have a counterpart organization within GLD, and is therefore not responsible to any specific GLD department. 

. Supply depots are organized on a three tier structure -- first level (yiji) depots are located in various military regions but are subordinate to HqAF; second level (erji) depots are located in each military region and are subordinate to the MRAF Headquarters; and third level (sanji) depots are located at and subordinate to operational units. For example, each aviation division) airfield has a third level depot, and the second level depots can support the third level depots in time of need. In addition, first level depots can either supply the second level depots or send items directly to the unit if necessary. The PLAAF's first level air materiel depots are directly subordinate to the Logistics Department Headquarters, but are functionally (yewu) responsible to the Plans Division within the Air Materiel Department. The Air Materiel Department's six divisions are listed below: 

- Plans Division (jihua chu)

 - Finance Division (caiwu chu)

 - Avionics Division (hangkong dianzi chu)

 - Aircraft and Engine Division (feiji fadongji chu)

 - Ground Equipment Division (dimian shebei chu)

 - Four Stations Division (sizhan chu)                  

DIRECTLY SUBORDINATE SUPPLY DEPARTMENT

The Directly Subordinate Supply Department (zhishu gongying bu/zhigong bu) is responsible for logistics support to HqAF only. It works closely with the Administrative Bureau/Divisions within HqAF. Since the institution of the PLA's civil service program in 1988, this department has also been responsible for logistics support to the HqAF's civil service personnel. There is no equivalent at the MRAF Headquarters, Air Corps, Command Post, or division/base level, but each Military Region Logistics Department has a Directly Subordinate Supply Department that performs the same functions. 

AUDIT BUREAU

The Audit Bureau (shenji ju) performs audits and inspections to determine how money is being used. 

ENGINEERING DESIGN AND RESEARCH BUREAU

In July 1962, the HqAF Logistics Department established an Engineering Design Bureau (kongjun gongcheng sheji ju), which is known today as the Engineering Design and Research Bureau (gongcheng sheji yanjiu ju), and each MRAF Logistics Department established an Engineering Design Office (sheji shi). When they were established, they were responsible for designing defense construction projects. Today, the bureau also designs engineering equipment such as frequency detectors and processors, and has a subordinate factory assigned to it. When the PLA implemented its civil service (wenzhi ganbu) system in August 1988, the bureau converted 132 personnel (almost everyone), to civil servants. In addition, the bureau has its own Party Committee (dangwei). 

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION

The Administrative Division (guanli chu) has the same role as the Administrative Division in the Political and Aeronautical Engineering Departments and works closely with the first level Headquarters Department's Administrative Bureau, and the Logistics Department's Directly Subordinate Supply Department. 

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT OFFICE

The Production Management Office (shengc han jingying bangongshi) guides production management work within the PLAAF's units, and is responsible for thousands of small businesses/enterprises (qiye) which the PLAAF has established to make money. For example, Air Corps and above are in charge of farms, while most airfield supply stations (changzhan), ground brigades, and ground regiments have established non-staple food bases. The large-type production bases near Beijing at Tongxian, Sanhe, and Caojiawu produced 4000 pigs, 2000 suckling pigs, and 200,000 chickens in 1988. Some products are also sold in Hong Kong and Macao. 

The PLAAF has not stated how many enterprises are run by budui's. In 1989, however, it reported that more than 100 PLAAF enterprises earned profits in excess of RMB $50,000 while several earned more than RMB $1 million. 

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