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Amphibious Warfare Capabilities of the People's Liberation Army:
An Assessment on Recent Modernizations[1]

91st Motorized Infantry Division (unit number 73131)
31st Group Army, Nanjing MR, HQ located at Zhangzhou, Fujian

91st MID is an interesting PLA Repaid Reaction Unit (RRU) which is composed largely of PLAAF and PLAN personnel. It is considered a light formation and works closely with the PLAAF and PLAN for rapid air/sea lift training. While it has dated equipment, it is a well-trained formation and has won many national honors according to PLAdaily

Commander: Chen Dongxiang
Political Commissar: Song Haihang
Deputy Commander: Chen Jian
Chief of Staff: Dai Binhui

Although focused on amphibious operations, the Armored Brigade of the 31st GA is equipped vehicle of older types, including the original Type 63 amphibious light tanks and older Type 77 APC

36th Mechanized Infantry Brigade (unit number 93235)
12th Group Army, Nanjing MR, HQ: North Jiangsu

A “red” unit in PLA’s lexicon is a unit that can trace its linage back to late 1920 when the PLA was founded. The 36th is one of these select units; one of its units served as guard company for CMC during the long march. It was reformed from an infantry division to a Mechanized Infantry Brigade in 1998. It was the first unit that received the type 95 rifles and HJ-9 ATGM, Type-96 Main Battle Tank (MBT) and Type-89I APC. Recently this unit has spent a great deal of training time concentrating on night assault.

Commander: Pan Jianzhong
Deputy Commander: Gu Zhengjun
Chief of Staff: Li Luxiang

86th Motorized Infantry Division (Unit number 73121)
31st Group Army, Nanjing MR. HQ located in Fujian

Equipped with the Russian mobile Tor-M1 Anti Air system, this unit has focused a great deal on training on urban and amphibious warfare

123rd Motorized Infantry Division (unit 75130)
41st Group Army, Guangzhou MR. HQ in Guigang/Guangxi

The 123rd is generally considered by the press to be one of the designated units for the "Taiwan operation" and has spent the past three years training for amphibious operations, although reports of conversion into an AMID has not confirmed. According to PLA Daily, this unit is being upgraded with new equipment such as new ATGMs and Type 63A ALTs and Type-96 MBTs.

Its 368th regiment is the reformed armor regiment. The 367th and 369 are its motorized infantry regiments. Its artillery regiment is the 503rd.

Commander: Huang Yuejin
Political Commissar: Chen Pinghua
Deputy Commanders: Yang Jinming, Duan Jianmin, Li Ming, Zhang Qiping
Deputy Political Commissars: Yang Haobiao, Ma Yuanxiang
Chief Of Staff: Yang Zheng.

127th Light Mobile Mechanized (Iron Army) Infantry Division (unit number 71282)
54th Group army, Jinan Military Region, HQ located at Luoyang Hunan

The 127th Light Mobile Mechanized Infantry Division is one of the most famous and best-equipped PLA formations. Its three main regiments, the 371st, 379th, and 380th, are all Red Army Regiments. The 371st regiment is the famed Ye Ting independent regiment, a nationalist armored train unit that was once commanded by Dr SunYat-Sen, with Zhou Enlai as it’s political commissar during the Republican Revolution of 1911. The “Iron Army” title was an honor for its Armored Train roots. It also acted as vanguard in the battle to seize the Luding Bridge during the Long March.

This division is made up of 2 light mechanized infantry regiments, 1 armored regiment, 1artillery regiment and 1 AAA regiment.

Both light mechanized infantry regiments are equipped with type-92 Wheeled IFV (or WZ551).

The armored regiment uses Type-96 (or type 88C) MBTs and was the first PLA armored unit to received this new MBT (in 1997). The Air-Defense battalion within this regiment is equipped with Type-95 SP combined SAM-AAA system. The artillery battalion within this regiment is equipped with type 89 122-mm SP howitzers.

Within the artillery regiment there is 1 battalion of type 81 122-mm truck-mounted MRL, and 1 battalion of BJ jeep-mounted HJ-8 ATGM (Type-98).

Commander: Xu Jingnian
Political Commissar: Liu Congliang
Deputy Commander: Wang Liguo, Zhang Xianhua, Li Yuanzheng, and Shi Zhenglu
Deputy Commissar: xu Guomin
Chief of Staff: Zhou Benchi

Another interesting PLA formation which has mixed amphibious equipment such as the Type 63A ALT, Type 63C APC, and Type 77 APC, in addition to other “land” equipment such as Type 88B MBT and Type WZ551 APC (Chinese BMP-1 Copy). The 10th often trains with the 1st AMID elements.

Of the 3 armored regiments, 1 is equipped with Type-88B MBT/Type-86A AFV, 1 is equipped with Type-63A amphibious tank/Type-63C APC, and 1 is equipped with Type-63 amphibious tank/Type-77II APC. This is the only "mixed" armored division in the PLA.

Commander: Fu Yi
Political Commissar: Qu Wen
Deputy Commander: Sun Zening
Deputy Political Commissar: Cao Xiafu