China Reducing Pilot Training Period, Striving for Modernization by 2030
Hangin' with the Dragons:
It's no secret that China's military, particularly its air force, is undergoing a metamorphosis. According to a new paper from Air University's China Aerospace Studies Institute, Beijing's pilot training program is speeding up its game, adopting fourth-generation aircraft, and targeting a fully modernized system by 2030.
Analyst Derek Solen, the mind behind the paper, cites recent developments in pilot training that China's been hinting at in recent months. For instance, the Shijiazhuang Flight Academy, one of three training centers for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), has nixed an older training program using third-generation fighters like Russia's Mig-21. This swap has hacked off about a year from the four-year training program.
Moreover, the Xi'an and Harbin Flight Academies are sending their drive to acclimate freshly minted graduates to fighter aircraft, handing the burden of that training to academies instead of combat units. Both moves indicate that the PLAAF is steadily pulling its finger out in a long-standing quest to centralize and streamline its initial fighter pilot training program.
The Hongdu JL-10 trainer, a Russian/Italian Yak-130 derivative, seems to be the star of China's flight instruction circus. This fly-by-wire, glass cockpit trainer is the aircraft of choice for most of the PLAAF's flight instruction. No other advanced trainers appear to be on the horizon.
According to Solen, China is churning out around 400 pilots a year, with the number gradually growing. In comparison, the U.S. Air Force produces approximately 1,350 pilots annually, although it falls short of its goal between 1,800 and 2,000.
The rate of PLAAF pilot production stalls at the university level, limiting the flow of students. To significantly boost production, more aircraft and instructors will be required.
China's flight instruction program from basic aviation/officer student training to frontline service takes around four years, nearly double the Air Force's program where students move from primary instruction to operational squadrons in about two years.
Currently, China isn't mimicking the USAF's new approach of using simulation and tailored instruction to expedite the leap from undergraduate student to flight lead, with students progressing at their own pace. However, China is upping its simulator game, with advanced ones featuring a high-fidelity cockpit surrounded by a video dome, primarily used at operational units.
Pilots earmarked for transports and bombers are often those who didn't make the cut in the fighter track. The PLAAF's concept is to maximize the investment already made in those students. Each flying academy has separate programs within them for large, multiengine aircraft.
Solen's analysis reveals that China doesn't have service academies or generic officer training schools. After three years of officer training and education at PLAAF's aviation university, students start primary flight training. They wrap up that school following a fourth year, after which they spend a year of intermediate training, followed by a year of advanced training. Graduates then move on to a year of specific instruction with the combat unit to which they're assigned.
Shijiazhaung appears to be abandoning the intermediate year of instruction.
"The Shijiazhuang Flight Academy's abandonment of intermediate flight training and its retirement of the JL-8 indicates that almost all the academy's training brigades now operate the JL-10," Solen penned in the paper. "The academy is almost certain to have one last training brigade operating the JL-9, but it is likely to retire the JL-9 next year after the last group of pilot candidates to have undergone intermediate flight training in the JL-8 complete their advanced flight training in mid-2025." He predicts that Harbin will transition fully to JL-10 instruction in 2026.
The J-10 is China's equivalent of the F-16, and two-seat versions are used for advanced fighter and strike training.
"Although only flight instructors have been mentioned training in the J-10 at the Xi'an Flight Academy, it is likely that the academy will begin conducting transition training for new pilots in the autumn of 2024 if it hasn't already done so," according to the paper.
"This would conform with past practice: the Shijiazhuang Flight Academy received the J-10 one year before it began conducting transition training. The Harbin Flight Academy is likely to have begun transition training with the J-11 by late 2023 because flight training commences in September of each year, so the air-to-ground attack training indicates the existence of a training program that began in the previous year."
The PLAAF hasn't turbocharged or revolutionized its pilot training program because it's trapped within the traditional pace of instruction.
"They've ... retained that cyclical induction process," he noted. "I suppose they could go more quickly, but if they do that actually kind of screws everything up," because officer instruction paces flight training. The schedule dictates everything.
"It's a very deliberate process," he added. "It hasn't been fast, but I can see steady progress." Since the arrival of the JL-10, "that was really the final piece needed to really get this process moving. Until then they were ... hindered by lack of an appropriate trainer. While they were trying to reform the curriculum, it wasn't well matched with the aircraft that they had."
This was awkward because the PLAAF's trainers were prepping students for third-generation fighters while it was unveiling fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft like the J-10, J-15, and J-20. That extra year might have been necessary to aid students in making the transition.
"It didn't really match," he said. Even the JL-10 may be insufficiently advanced to prepare students for the J-20, China's premier stealth fighter, Solen noted.
While the PLAAF won't radically speed up or reform its pilot training program to the same extent as the USAF, it's working on it. Older trainer and training programs are likely to stick around until 2030, when the PLAAF aims to have a fully modernized training system. Until then, expect the older ones to hang around for a shrinking group of experienced pilots whose retirements may coincide with the retirement of their aircraft.
- China's air force, also known as the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), is adopting fourth-generation aircraft as part of its plan to achieve a fully modernized system by 2030, according to analyst Derek Solen's paper from Air University's China Aerospace Studies Institute.
- The Hongdu JL-10 trainer, a derivative of the Russian/Italian Yak-130, is the star of China's flight instruction circuit, with most of PLAAF's flight instruction taking place on this fly-by-wire, glass cockpit trainer.
- The Xi’an and Harbin Flight Academies in China are focusing on acclimating freshly minted graduates to fighter aircraft, highlighting the PLAAF's intention to centralize and streamline its initial fighter pilot training program.
- Unlike the United States Air Force (USAF), which produces approximately 1,350 pilots annually, China currently churns out around 400 pilots a year, with the number gradually growing.
- As the Shijiazhuang Flight Academy retires older training programs and adopts the JL-10 trainer, the PLAAF seems to be moving towards a more advanced and efficient pilot training system, aligning with the broader trend of aerospace and aviation technology advancements.
