PLA Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense

The People's Liberation Army Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense (MOE: 91007) is a military school of deputy corps grade subordinate to the PLA Ground Force. It is responsible for officer, graduate, and NCO training for the PLA artillery forces. The academy was created in 2017 by merging four existing academies.

History PLA Army Command College (中国人民解放军陆军军官学院) In 1977, the Central Military Commission decided to establish the "People's Liberation Army Artillery Technical College". Preparatory work began immediately. It was directly under the leadership of the General Staff Department, with a corps grade. In 1978, with the approval of the CMC, it moved from Zhengzhou to Hefei In 1986, it was renamed the "Hefei Artillery College". In July 1999, Chairman of the CMC Jiang Zemin signed an order to merge the Hefei Artillery College and the Nanjing Artillery College to form the "People's Liberation Army Artillery College." The college headquarters was in Hefei, and a branch was set up in Nanjing. In August 2011, the college was reorganized as the "Army Command College". At the same time, the Nanjing Branch became independent again and was restored as the Nanjing Artillery College. In 2016, in the military reforms of 2015, the college was transferred from the GSD to the PLAGF.

PLA Nanjing Artillery Academy The Fourth Branch School of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University evolved in the 1940s into the "Artillery Group of the East China Military and Political University". March 1947, the Artillery Group was separated from the university and reformed into the "East China Special Forces Column Technical School", located at Mantangpo, Yishui County, Shandong. The school participated in the Battle of Jinan and the Huaihai campaign. In January 1949, it was moved to Jiulishan, Xuzhou City. In May 1949, it was relocated to Yanshan, Nanjing, taking over the original site of the Republic of China's Army Artillery school. In November 1949, the school was raised from regiment to division grade. 15 December 1950，the school was renamed the "East China Military Region Artillery School". On 10 March 1951, it was renamed "PLA Third Artillery School", and it returned to direct CMC subordination. In February 1956, it was renamed the "PLA Nanjing Artillery School". In 1957, the school started accepting foreign students. December 1969, during the Cultural Revolution, Nanjing Artillery School was abolished. In 1974，the "PLA Artillery School" was re-established in Nanjing, reopening in March 1975. It was subordinated to the Artillery Corps of the CMC (in September 1982, the Artillery Corps' HQ was replaced by the Artillery Department of the General Staff). At the end of 1977, the school was renamed "PLA First Ground Artillery School" July 1986, the school was upgraded to the "PLA Nanjing Artillery Academy" (中国人民解放军南京炮兵学院). In 1999, the academy merged with the Hefei Artillery College and the Huai'an Artillery College to become the "Nanjing Branch of the PLA Artillery Academy".

Artillery Command College In May 1955, the CCP Artillery Corps Party Committee established the "Preparatory Committee of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Artillery Academy" in accordance with the instructions of the Central Military Commission on the establishment of military academies. On 9 June 1956, the CMC approved Document No. 5, which determined that the new artillery academy would be established based on the Artillery Department of the Nanjing Military Academy. In addition, some key faculty members of the former CMC Artillery School and of the Advanced Artillery School were transferred together with the Artillery College Preparatory Group to form the "PLA Artillery College". On 9 July 1957, the Ministry of National Defense officially established the PLA Artillery College. It was under the leadership of the CMC Artillery Corps and was located in Xuanhua Town, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. In August 1957, it was raised to corps grade. 19 February 1969, the CMC Administrative Group (军委办事组) issued the "Military Academy Adjustment Plan" that ordered that "all command academies should be abolished". The Artillery College was therefore dissolved on 17 December 1969. In January 1970, the Artillery College left behind a caretaking office (留守处) at the site. In April 1974, the CMC decided to establish the "Artillery Corps Military and Political Cadres School" at the site of the original Artillery College. On 15 June of the same year, the Artillery Corps issued the order establishing the school at a corps grade. On November 28, 1977, the school was renamed back to "PLA Artillery College", still located at Xuanhua. On 9 June 1986, in accordance with the CMC Document No. 7 (1986), the Artillery College was renamed the Artillery Command College. In 1992, in accordance with the CMC Document No. 9 (1992), the "Reform Plan for the Adjustment of the Establishment System of Military Colleges and Universities", the Artillery Command College was adjusted from an intermediate command college to a primary college and renamed "Xuanhua Artillery College", placed at division grade. In June 1993, the General Staff issued an order to restore the Xuanhua Artillery College into the Artillery Command College, at corps grade. 2004, the Lanfang Army Missile College was incorporated to the Artillery Command College and became its Lanfang Campus. The predecessor of the Langfang Army Missile College was the Artillery Missile Training Regiment established in November 1978. In April 1979, it was upgraded into the "Artillery Missile Training Base". In June 1983, it was rebuilt into the "Artillery Missile School". In June 1986, it was renamed "Langfang Artillery Missile School". In June 1993, it was renamed the "Langfang Army Missile Academy." In November 2011, the Central Military Commission ordered the Artillery Command College and the Nanjing Branch of the Artillery College to merge into the "Nanjing Artillery Academy", at a deputy corps grade. The school was located in Tangshan Town, Jiangning District, Nanjing. On November 5, 2011, the Nanjing Artillery Academy was officially established. In 2016, as part of the 2015 reforms, it was transferred from the jurisdiction of the GSD to the PLAGF.

Air Defense Corps Academy of the PLA On 28 September 1949, the "PLA Air Defense School" was established, located in Shenyang City. In June 1951, it was renamed the "Anti-aircraft Artillery School". In April 1959, it moved to the site of the former Senior Infantry School in Xiaolingwei, Nanjing. In September 1962, it was reduced in rank and moved to Wuchang, Wuhan, swapping its site with the Artillery Engineering College. The move was completed in August 1962, and the school formally affiliated with the Artillery Corps. In September 1969, the Anti-aircraft Artillery School was abolished and a caretaking office was left behind in Wuhan. On 21 May 1951, the South Central Military Region, in accordance with orders from the CMC, established the "Fourth Artillery School of the PLA" in Henan Province, with division grade. On 4 February 1956, the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Fourth Artillery School to be reformed into the "Zhengzhou Artillery School". On 19 February 1969, the Zhengzhou Artillery School was abolished. On 1 April 1970, the "PLA Artillery Technical School" was established in Tangshan, Nanjing, by order of the CMC. In November of the same year, it was moved to Zhengzhou, Henan Province, to the site of the Zhengzhou Artillery School. It was set as a division grade school under the leadership of the Artillery Department of the CMC. In January 1974, the Artillery Corps reformed the Artillery Technical School to the "Anti-aircraft Artillery School", set at division grade. In July 1986 the Anti-aircraft Artillery School was promoted to the "Anti-aircraft Artillery Academy", which was responsible for training junior command officers of the army anti-aircraft artillery units and foreign military students. In 1999, it was renamed the "Zhengzhou Air Defense Force Academy". In May 2004, according to the order of the Central Military Commission, the "Air Defense Force Command College" of the People's Liberation Army was established by merging the Zhengzhou Air Defense Force Academy with the air defense majors of the Artillery Command College and the Langfang Army Missile College. It was established as an intermediate-level vocational education institution and upgraded from division grade to deputy corps grade. In September 2011, the Air Defense Command College was renamed "Air Defense Academy" (中国人民解放军防空兵学院). In 2016, as part of the 2015 reforms, it was transferred from the jurisdiction of the GSD to the PLAGF.

PLA Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense In 2017, in the process of carrying out the 2015 reforms, the "People's Liberation Army Army Artillery and Air Defense Academy" was established by merging the Army Artillery Command College, the Nanjing Artillery Academy, the Air Defense Academy, and the Shenyang Artillery Academy into the People's Liberation Army Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense, with a deputy corps grade. The headquarters was located in Hefei City. On 8 August 2017, the unveiling ceremony of the Artillery and Air Defense Academy was held in Hefei.

Facilities

Overall, the academy covers (84,798 mu), including (3,400 mu) for the main campus; (49,600 mu) for a field-combat-oriented comprehensive training base (野战化综合军事训练基地). The academy has of built teaching and living infrastructure; and of available flying space (飞行空域).

The college has complete teaching and training facilities, including 366 classrooms, 193 laboratories (and special training rooms), 93 training venues, and four libraries with a total area of 50,000 square meters and a collection of more than 1.3 million books. It has two military-level (provincial and ministerial-level) key laboratories and 4 provincial-level experimental training demonstration centers.

The Nanjing campus is adjacent to the largest artillery range in Asia, the Tangshan Shooting Range (汤山炮兵靶场), which allows the use of live ammunition. There are also several combat physical and professional skills training grounds, an artillery field simulation shooting range, and an artillery simulation training center. The Artillery Field Training Center provides training in physical fitness, professional skills and tactical training.

The Zhengzhou Campus has a military basic comprehensive training grounds, weapons and equipment comprehensive training grounds, portable air defense missile training grounds (便携式防空导弹训练场), and individual tactics and communication training grounds. There are four professional technical training grounds (专业技术训练场) outside of campus for air defense weapons operation, ground-to-air training, and general tactical training needs.

There are 23 training grounds in the NCO School. There are more than (1,000 mu) of comprehensive training grounds in Kaiyuan, Liaoning Province and more than (20,000 mu) of training bases in Arong Banner, Inner Mongolia.

The academy has cooperative programs with many universities and research institutions, such as its neighboring University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and the Chinese Academy of Science.

As of 2018, there were more than 400 serving military students from more than 30 countries being trained in the school. The school conducts student exchanges regularly.

Organizational structure Campuses and schools

There are four campuses, corresponding to the four founding institutions.

The main campus is the Hefei campus, the former Army Command College. The Nanjing campus, the former Nanjing Artillery Academy. The Zhengzhou campus, the former Air Defense Corps Academy of the PLA. The Shenyang campus houses the subordinate NCO School.

Academic departments

The following five academic departments (系) can be identified:

Artillery Subunit Command Department (炮兵分队指挥系)