In an interview in his later years, MacArthur, a five-star general in the US army, said: "Whoever wants to fight the Chinese Army must be sick!" Perhaps because of the lessons of the past, during the Vietnam War, the US military, which had absolute sea and air superiority, never crossed the military demarcation line of 17 degrees north latitude. From the end of the 20th century to the present, with the outbreak of several local wars, more and more people began to focus on the sea and air power, and the army power was somewhat neglected. In fact, in the process of the rapid development of naval and air forces, the Chinese Army is also undergoing modernization, and now it still has the strength to break the wrist with the US military.
To analyze the combat strength of the Chinese and American armies, it is first necessary to assess and analyze the most intuitive hard power of the two countries, such as the size of the army and weapons and equipment.
The Center for Strategic and International Assessment, a U.S. think tank, released this year's "Fiscal Year 2022 of U.S. Military Power – Army," which shows that as of now, the U.S. Army has a total strength of 486,000 troops, of which about 117,000 soldiers are deployed in 140 countries on six continents. If you count the 336,000-strong National Guard and 189,500 Army Reservists, the U.S. Army's ground combatants are about 1 million. In contrast, the size of our army is about 850,000 people, but our reserve personnel are much more than the United States, so in terms of size, our army is obviously superior.
At present, the U.S. Army has a total of 7 major commands, 10 combat divisions and several independent brigades and regiments, the most core of which are two armored divisions, 4 mechanized divisions, 2 light infantry, I air assault divisions and 1 airborne division. At present, China's army has a total of 13 group armies, and the group army has completely abolished the combat units at the division and regimental levels except for a few areas. Under normal circumstances, China's group armies generally adopt a 6 + 6 formation, that is, 6 composite combat brigades plus 1 army aviation brigade, 1 artillery brigade, 1 air defense brigade, 1 special operations brigade, 1 industrial and chemical brigade (engineers and anti-chemical weapons), and 1 service support brigade. According to the information of the official website of the Global Firepower Index and other military analysis agencies, it can be seen that the current number of main equipment of the Chinese and American armies is as follows:
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Armament
Chinese Army
U.S. Army
remark
Main battle tanks
About 9,700 vehicles
About 8,300 vehicles
Number of 3rd Generation Main Battle Tanks: 3800 + (Medium) VS 2380 + (US)
Wheeled/tracked armored vehicles
About 51,000 vehicles
Approximately 60,403 vehicles
China is slightly less than the U.S. military
self-propelled artillery
Approximately 6,240 vehicles
Approximately 1,930 vehicles
Heavy towed artillery
About 6240 doors
About 1790 doors
Long-range multiple rocket launchers
About 2250 doors
About 1330 doors
Land Aviation helicopters
About 1600 aircraft
About 5,000
Number of attack helicopter gunships:
Approx. 587 (Medium) VS Approx. 918 (US)
(Note: Forecast data)
Obviously, the heavy firepower strike force on the ground of our Army is more dominant than that of the US military, but its mobile combat and strike capabilities in the air are not as good as those of the US Army. If these weapons are implemented in brigade-level combat units, then the comparison of combat strength between the Chinese and American armies is more intuitive.
At present, the US military has a total of 31 brigade-level combat units, which are mainly divided into ABCT armored brigade combat team, SBCT Stryker brigade combat team and IBCT infantry brigade combat team according to combat tasks and weapons and equipment. The ABCT Armored Brigade was equipped with 87 M1A2 series main battle tanks, 116 M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 18 M109 155MM self-propelled howitzers, and 18 M1064A3 120mm heavy mortars.
In recent years, China's army has also begun the process of reorganization of the composite brigade, of which the well-known heavy brigade is equipped with at least 104 04A infantry fighting vehicles and 112 99A main battle tanks. In addition, the brigade's artillery battalion is equipped with at least 60 or so large-caliber guns, including 24 120mm self-propelled howitzers, 9 122mm self-propelled howitzers and 9 long-range rocket launchers. In addition to artillery construction, our army's heavy brigade is also equipped with a certain number of Red Arrow-10 anti-tank missile launchers. It can be seen from this that China's heavy composite brigade is generally superior to the US military in terms of ground firepower strike capability.
In terms of reconnaissance capabilities, the Sino-US heavy armored brigades are equipped with various types of reconnaissance vehicles and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and there is not much difference between the two. It is worth mentioning that because the United States has long believed that the US Air Force has absolute air superiority capabilities, the US Army has not paid too much attention to the construction of field air defense capabilities, and field air defense capabilities only rely on the "Stinger" shoulder-fired missile with a range of about 5 kilometers and the "Humvee" modified "Avenger" air defense system. Among them, the "Avenger" air defense system is nothing more than installing the "Stinger" air defense missile on the mobile vehicle, and on this basis, it is equipped with infrared radar and friend identification system. Our army's heavy brigade is also equipped with an air defense battalion, equipped with a number of sets of Hongqi-17/17A air defense missiles, PGZ-09 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and "Red Ribbon-6" shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. The Hongqi-16/A has a maximum range of about 40-60 kilometers and has the ability to intercept low-altitude fighters, drones, helicopters, and even cruise missiles, which is almost the "nemesis" of the US Apache helicopter.
Therefore, as far as ground operations are concerned, the Chinese Army is fully capable of wrenching the wrist of the US Army. However, there is a certain gap in the field of the number of helicopters and heavy helicopters in the field of the number of helicopters and heavy helicopters, compared with the US army aviation units. Of course, with the advancement of domestic helicopter technology and the entry into service of models such as the Z-20 and Z-8 series, it is also possible that the Chinese Army Aviation Unit will be on an equal footing with the US military in the future.
In modern warfare, in addition to high-tech equipment, the military's literacy and perseverance are equally important. In the Iraq War, many people only knew about the US military's aircraft carrier battle group, Tomahawk missiles, fighter jets, Apache helicopter gunships and other modern weapons, which crushed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi troops. As everyone knows, as many as 300 senior Iraqi officers who were plotted against before the war, even the minister of defense, the general of the Republican Guard, and the commander in charge of the defense of Baghdad, all defected under the "sugar-coated shells" of the United States.
In terms of military quality and perseverance, the Chinese People's Liberation Army is obviously stronger than the US military, which was proved by the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea 70 years ago. For example, in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the equipment and conditions possessed by the volunteer army were far inferior to those of the US army, and our soldiers wore thin cotton coats and carried a few potatoes as hard as stones, and ambushed the US First Marine Division in the ice and snow of more than minus 40 degrees. Although the U.S. military had sufficient supplies and fire support, it was still beaten to the point of losing its armor and armor. Even today, in the 21 st century, the perseverance and quality displayed by our army are still undiminished, such as the mine-sweeping hero Du Fuguo and so on.
On the contrary, the US military that launched wars in the name of "freedom and democracy" always considered itself to be a righteous division, but as the US military gradually withdrew from the Middle East and Afghanistan, more and more scandals were made public, and it was not uncommon to abuse prisoners, grass-offs, and sex scandals. In August of this year, during the evacuation of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, the US military fired wildly at ordinary people in the face of a bomb attack by militants, which eventually led to many casualties. In the ensuing drone revenge operation, the U.S. military killed 10 more innocent Afghan civilians. I would like to ask, how high can the comprehensive quality of such an army that regards human life as a reckless one be? Therefore, in terms of human factors, the quality of the PLA is much higher than that of the US military.
When many people talk about the balance of military forces between China and the United States, they always think that the PLA's actual combat experience is inferior to that of the US military, but actual combat experience does not determine everything. Looking back at our army's several border counterattack operations, even if the opponent is experienced, it is still not worth mentioning in front of our army. In 1962, before the outbreak of the Sino-Indian border conflict, the 130th Division of the 54th Army was only a production unit scattered in Sichuan and Chongqing when it received the combat order, and on the plateau combat experience, it was difficult to compare with the thousands of Indian troops stationed in the wa nong area of the southern foothills of the Himalayas, but as soon as the battle began, this unit not only thwarted the Indian army's plan to attack the "05 Highland", but also took advantage of the situation to occupy another high ground of the Indian army.
Although China's army has not participated in actual combat for more than 40 years, it has not slackened its military training and preparation for war for a single moment. At present, China has built the largest and most advanced Zhurihe training base in Asia, and almost every year thousands of commanders and hundreds of thousands of officers and men are baptized by the "fire of war" here, and the training conditions and scale are no less than those of the US Military's Fort Owen National Training Center. Therefore, whether in the past or at present, it is not scientific to judge the combat effectiveness of the two armies by taking actual combat experience as the only criterion.
The US Army has experienced many wars in recent decades, and its actual combat experience is indeed rich. However, a careful study of the several local conflicts initiated by the US military shows that the US Army began to operate to a large extent after the Air Force and Navy eliminated the enemy's ground forces, and the so-called "law and order maintenance war" was carried out, and there were very few cases of large-scale ground engagements with the opponent. On the contrary, in the battle against small groups of militants, there are many cases of U.S. Army units with strong fire support and heavy losses due to sneak attacks. From this point of view, if the Air Force cannot achieve absolute air supremacy, it may not be so easy for the US Army to win.
Summary: After decades of development, China's army has made great progress in both equipment and combat strength building. It is precisely because of this that our country has enough confidence and strength to deal with various provocations, and our army still has the strength to break the wrist with the US military.