History of Development
The Air Force was founded on November 11, 1949. The years from 1949 to 1953 witnessed the establishment of an Air Force leading organs in the CMC and in each of the military area commands; the creation of the fighter, bomber, attacker, reconnaissance and transport, airborne forces and a number of educational institutions; and the organization of the Air Force of the Chinese People's Volunteers to take part in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953). The Air Force was merged with the Air Defense Force in 1957, by adopting a system combining air operations with air defense. In the 1960s and 1970s the Air Force formed the guiding principle of giving priority to the development of air defense forces, and gradually grew into an air force for territorial air defense. Since the 1990s the Air Force has been in a phase of rapid development. It has deployed third-generation combat aircraft, third-generation ground-to-air missiles, and a series of relatively advanced and computerized weapons and equipment. It has stepped up the development of military theories with strategic theories at the core, and introduced a strategic concept that the Air Force should be capable of both offensive and defensive operations. As a result, the Air Force has begun its transition from territorial air defense to both offensive and defensive operations. After nearly six decades of development, the Air Force has initially developed into a strategic service comprising more than one wings. It now has relatively strong capabilities to conduct air defensive and offensive operations, and certain capabilities to execute long-range precision strikes and strategic projection operations.