10th Bomber Division (People's Republic Of China)

The 10th Bomber Division or 10th Air Division (10th AD, , Unit 94810) of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is an air formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The 10th Bomber Division has been accorded the honorary titles of "Model Bomber Group" () and "Red Banner Division" () and is the PLAAF's unit of choice to send to international skills competitions.

As one of only three bomber divisions of the PLAAF and the only bomber division assigned to the Eastern Theater Command Air Force, the 10th Bomber Division is almost certainly responsible for providing strategic bombing support capabilities to a potential conflict in the East China Sea including Korea, Japan, or, principally, one involving Taiwan.

History

The 10th Bomber Division was established on 17 January 1951 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province as only the second bomber unit in the People's Republic of China following the creation of the 8th Bomber Division less than two months before. Like the 8th Bomber Division, the 10th drew its initial manning from the PLAAF's first air unit, the 4th Composite Air Brigade, which was also stationed in Nanjing. Originally consisting of the 28th, 29th, and 30th Bomber Regiments operating Soviet-gifted Tupolev Tu-2 bombers, the newly formed 8th Bomber Division was moved to Liaoyang in Liaoning Province to support the People's Volunteer Army against United Nations forces in the Korean War. During the struggle for the island of Taehwa-do, the 8th Bomber Division bombed during daylight hours and the 10th at night. The division was later stationed in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province and, in September 1956, moved again to Tangshan, Hebei Province where it would join the Beijing Military Region Air Force (MRAF). Expanding its role to include electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare, the 28th Bomber Regiment of the 10th Bomber Division received its first series of Illyushin Il-28 bombers in 1957.

In the autumn of 1968, the PLAAF swapped the garrisons of the 8th and 10th Bomber Divisions implementing Lin Biao's dictate that troops should not live in one place for too long while wary of the involvement of the Nanjing Military Region Air Force's participation in the factional struggles of Mao's Cultural Revolution. Later, the 28th and 29th Bomber Regiments of the division began receiving H-6 bombers (a variant of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16). Shortly after, on 18 December 1968, the 10th Bomber Division's Deputy Commander Li Zhiguo reportedly experienced a cabin short circuit, setting the aircraft ablaze. Although the radioman Ma Shaocheng and navigator Li Qianyuan safely ejected and parachuted to the ground, Li died onboard the crashed bomber. Relocated again to Huaining County in Anhui Province, the 10th Bomber Division engaged in tests bombing ice floes on the Yellow (Huang He) River and a number of nuclear tests using the Chinese built Harbin H-5 (variant of the Il-28s) during the early 1970s.

The 30th Bomber Regiment, which had operated the electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare Il-28s did not receive the new H-6 bombers, instead it was drawn to establish the 142nd Bomber Regiment of the 48th Bomber Division, a now-defunct bomber unit established in August 1970 in Fuyang, Hunan Province. A part of the Guangzhou Military Region Air Force, the 142nd Bomber Regiment was abolished in 1985 and the 48th Bomber Division in 1992. Aircraft and personnel of the former 142nd Bomber Regiment (originally the 30th Bomber Regiment of the 10th Bomber Division) became an independent electronic warfare regiment where it remained until 2003 when the regiment was equipped with specialized variants of Y-8 transport aircraft and reinstated as the 30th Bomber Regiment under the 10th Bomber Division. Adding to the regiment's tumultuous lineage, the 30th Bomber Regiment was abolished in 2012 until, in 2017, it had been re-established and given H-6M bombers.

In the 2016 restructure of the People's Liberation Army, the Nanjing Military Region (under which 10th Bomber Division was hitherto assigned) became the Eastern Theater Command Air Force.

Activities

On 1 October 2019, the first hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the WZ-8 () was unveiled to the public towed at a military parade in Beijing. Although the serial numbers on the WZ-8 airframes were covered for the parade (and covered again at the 2021 Zhuhai Air Show), the state-run, PLA-focused news outlet CCTV-7 published footage of the towed-UAVs during 2019 parade rehearsals with serial numbers unredacted. The two serial numbers, 21311 and 21312, are within the serial range for the 10th Bomber Division's 30th Bomber Regiment stationed at Luhe Air Base just north of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. Images showing suspension lugs atop the aircraft's dorsal spine further suggest the WZ-8 UAV is to be air-launched from underneath an H-6 bomber raising confidence in the UAV's potential assignment to the bomber unit.

In 2021, the 10th Bomber Division began to receive H-6Js, the upgraded naval variant of the H-6K with improved payload capacities and electronic warfare capabilities. It is unclear which regiments may have received the new H-6Js.

On 19 September 2020, in response to U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach

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