PLA Navy Marine Corps
Before the 2017 reforms, PLAN had 12000 troops in 2 Marine Brigades in the South China fleet. Now there are atleast 7 Brigades, 2 each under Eastern, Northern and Southern Theatre Navies and one under direct command of Marine Corps HQ. All brigades except the 7th (special operations) have roughly 6000 troops each. Additionally, there are one or perhaps two carrier based aviation brigades^ . So the total number of troops in Marine Corps may be around 40,000 – 50,000 in 7-8 brigades. Some reports claim that PLA is planning for a Marine Corps with 1 lakh troops in 12-14 brigades.
The new brigades follow the new Combined Arms structure which have 9 battalions:
- 3 Amphibious Combined Arms Battalions, one of them light.
- 1 Air Assault Battalion
- 1 Artillery Battalion
- 1 Air Defence Battalion
- 1 Reconnaissance Battalion
- 1 Operational/Combat Support Battalion
- 1 Service Support Battalion.
Amphibious CA Battalions have five companies and 1 platoon:
- 4 Mechanised Infantry Companies
- 1 Firepower Company
- Reconnaissance Platoon
Of the 4 Infantry Companies, 2 can be wheeled or tracked ICVs while remaining 2 are usually wheeled guns.
Additionally, PLA maintains a few amphibious units of its own:
- 72nd GA of Eastern TC : 5th and 124th Amphibious CAB
- 73rd GA of Eastern TC: 14th and 91st Amphibious CAB
- 74th GA of Southern TC: 1sth and 125th Amphibious CAB
It seems like PLAA’s amphibious units are overall better equipped than PLANMC. With respect to a possible Taiwan invasion, the latter seems to be meant for a role which is focused on recon, sabotage, clearing obstacles and screening to the PLAA’s main assault force.
Weapon Systems:
It is not clear whether all the weapon systems mentioned here will stay in service over next few years
- Artillery: PLZ-07B, Type-89, PLL09
- Assault Gun: ZTD-05
- Tanks: Type-62, Type-63
- IFVs & Other Armoured Vehicles: ZBL-09, ZBD-05, Type-77, Type-86, WZ-551, ZTL09, Dongfeng Warrior
- Rifles: Type-95, SAW
- ATGM: HJ-8, HJ-73
- Air Defence: HN-5
- Landing Ships: Type 071, Type 081/075, Yukan, Yuting
- UAV: RQ-11 Raven
The units listed in the table below are from pre-2019 times. As of mid 2022, many of the new Marine Brigades are still under strength and new units are being raised and added.
| UNIT | MUCD | LOCATION | LAT | LONG | REMARKS |
| Marine Corps HQ | 91811 | Yongchun North Road, Chaozhou | 23°41’16.16″N | 116°37’56.51″E | |
| 1st Marine Brigade^ | 92057 | Zhanjiang | 21°14’22.67″N | 110°26’29.01″E | Under Southern Theatre NavyAlso in Djibouti CityFormer 391st Inf Regiment.Tiger Brigade |
| 1st Marine Battalion^ | 91509 | Huguang, Zhanjiang | 21° 9’18.60″N | 110°15’33.41″E | 3 Marine Inf Coys, 1 MG & 1 Artillery Coy |
| 2nd Marine Battalion^ | 91376 | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 21° 9’19.51″N | 110°15’39.83″E | 3 Marine Inf Coys, 1 MG & 1 Artillery Coy |
| Artillery Battalion^ | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 21° 9’7.57″N | 110°16’3.04″E | 3 Howitzer Coys | |
| Missile Battalion^ | 92583 | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 21° 8’51.53″N | 110°15’41.73″E | ATGM, AD and ECM Coys |
| Engineer and Chemical Defence Battalion | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 21° 9’0.81″N | 110°16’1.98″E | 4 Coys | |
| Comms Battalion | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 21° 8’51.17″N | 110°15’58.15″E | Guard Coy, Wired & Wireless Comm Coys | |
| Repair Battalion/Coy | Huguang, Zhanjiang^ | 3 repair coys | |||
| 1st Amphibious Armoured Regiment | 92776 | Zhanjiang Guandu | 2 tank battalions of 3 coys each1 ICV battalion of 3 coys | ||
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | 92352 | Zhanjiang Guandu | 3 frogmen squadrons | ||
| 2nd Marine Brigade | 92510 | Heliu, Zhanjian | 21°17’12.39″N | 110°16’2.83″E | Under Southern Theatre NavyFormer 164th Marine Corps Brigade |
| 1st Marine Battalion^ | 91048 | Dongpoling, Zhanjiang | 3 Marine Inf Coys, 1 MG & 1 Artillery Coy | ||
| 2nd Marine Battalion^ | 92505 | Dongpoling, Zhanjiang | 3 Marine Inf Coys, 1 MG & 1 Artillery Coy | ||
| Artillery Battalion^ | 92604 | Dongpoling, Zhanjiang | 3 Howitzer Coys | ||
| Missile Battalion^ | 91923 | Dongpoling, Zhanjiang | 21°18’31.82″N | 110°14’29.83″E | ATGM, AD and ECM Coys |
| Engineer and Chemical Defence Battalion | 4 Coys | ||||
| Comms Battalion | Guard Coy, Wired & Wireless Comm Coys | ||||
| Repair Battalion/Coy | 3 repair coys | ||||
| ^ Amphibious Armoured Regiment | 91755 | Sanduotang, Lingbei Town, Zhanjiang | 21°14’8.79″N | 110°11’1.61″E | 2 tank battalions of 3 coys each1 ICV battalion of 3 coys |
| Amphibious Recon UNit (Female) | 91048 | Pingshicun, Huanglue Town, Suixi | 21°23’0.61″N | 110°22’51.97″E | |
| Amphibious Reconnaissance Training | 91487 | Pingshicun, Huanglue Town, Suixi | 21°22’56.66″N | 110°23’4.76″E | |
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | 91755 | Pingshicun, Huanglue Town, Suixi | 21°23’9.85″N | 110°22’57.34″E | 3 frogmen squadrons |
| 3rd Marine Brigade | 91718 or 92822 | Mantou Mountain, Jiedong | 23°35’30.53″N | 116°10’47.27″E | Under Eastern Theatre NavyFormer 13th Haiphong Division |
| 487th Regiment | 75221 | Jieyang, Guangdong | |||
| Artillery Regiment | 75223 | Jieyang, Guangdong | |||
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | |||||
| 4th Marine Brigade^ | 92822 or 91718 | Sankeng Village, Jinjiang | 24°34’30.65″N | 118°37’10.94″E | Under Eastern Theatre NavyFormer 11th Brigade of Haiphong, Nanjing Military Region |
| ^ Marine Battalion^^ | Qitiancun, Quanzhou | 24°47’21.76″N | 118°32’55.27″E | ||
| Artillery Battalion^^ | Xiangshan, Quanzhou | 24°47’59.61″N | 118°32’58.47″E | ||
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | |||||
| 5th Marine Brigade | 92667 | Haiqu West Road, Rizhao City, Shandong | 35°25’40.23″N | 119°25’32.86″E | Under Northern Theatre NavyFormer 8th Regiment of Coastal Defense of Jinan Military Region |
| Loading port | Weihai port | 37°26’11.55″N | 122°11’10.63″E | Main loading port/base | |
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | |||||
| 6th Marine Brigade | 91951 or 92735 | Yimeng BrigadeUnder Northern Theatre Navy.Former 77th Motorised Infantry Brigade | |||
| Amphibious Recon Battalion | |||||
| 7th Marine Brigade | 91811 | Sanya City, Hainan Province | Under Marine Corps, ~1000 troopsFrom Dragon Commando Special Ops | ||
| Training^ | 91128 | Shangtang village, Tielu Harbour | 18°15’30.79″N | 109°43’28.86″E | Jiaolong Commando |
| 7th Aviation Brigade | 2 Flight Squadrons, 1 Maintenance group |
PLA Navy Marine Corps Map: https://earth.google.com/web/@27.84755073,115.95547818,116.12573753a,3591251.34371953d,30y,0h,0t,0r/data=MigKJgokCiAxNmM4NXhkMThkcjJkOGJCbFpVU3JKRC01RExGdWk4SSAC
You didn’t seem to get a lot of attention for this but I just wanted to let you know this is some great stuff!
Its so much of hard work
Great
Can you share something on UAV Brigade, EW Brigade and Marine Brigade – organization, capability etc
Thanks. Marines have been covered to some extent in one of the posts. There isn’t much useful information available about the rest right now. Maybe will write something in a few months
It`s something different USA DoD`s report. so ot will be better cross check.
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Nov/03/2002885874/-1/-1/0/2021-CMPR-FINAL.PDF
thanks the valuable information provide by you. is it possible to get .cvs file which you refer in above map view for various theater e.g. China ORBAT Map – East TC.csv, China ORBAT Map – South TC.csv, China ORBAT Map – Central.csv, China ORBAT Map – Airborne.csv, China ORBAT Map – Marine.csv, China ORBAT Map – Border Units.csv, China ORBAT Map – North TC.csv, China ORBAT Map – West TC.csv
Hello, these details will be available at https://www.patreon.com/jjamwal
I find some wrongs, but I’m Chinese. Regrettably I can’t share them.
Why not? There’s no secrets to keep from the US. JJ has done a fantastical job from published sources. Saying “you’re wrong but I cant reveal my sources” is morally wrong.