The Achilles Heel of China's Air Force (PLAAF) has long been its lack of practical experience, both in combat and in deployments distant from Chinese borders. For the time being, a concentration on regional defense has served the PLAAF well. But as China's interests and responsibilities grow, the air force may need to spin up the capabilities necessary to send its people and aircraft far away, for a long time.
A recent RAND report highlighted the problems facing the PLAAF, as well as its effort to develop solutions in response to them. The report described the extent of the PLAAF's international experience, as well as its performance in recent domestic support operations that involved the use of long-range transport. The report concluded that while China's air force has increased its expeditionary capacity, it remains well behind the US Air Force (USAF) and many European air forces.
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