At the strategic level of discourse, the PLAAF today
is beginning to rethink the roles and missions it must
assume, and the capabilities it must have, to conduct
aerospace operations that will achieve Beijing’s larger
national objectives. Exactly what is meant when the
PLAAF is exhorted to become a “strategic air force”
PLAAF was finally given its own service-level strategy,
known as “Integrated Air and Space, Being Prepared
for Simultaneous Offensive and Defensive Operations.”
Bureaucratically, this was a big moment for the
PLAAF. The PLA Navy was issued its own service
strategy in 1986 (“Offshore Active Defense”) and
the PLAAF had lobbied unsuccessfully since 1987 to
follow suit. By 2004, that battle was won.