Quick Note: Eyes That See A Thousand Miles
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Guarding the Great Wall: 75 Years of the PLA Air Force Radar Corps
Anushka Saxena
April 22, 2025, marks 75 years since the establishment of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force Radar Troops (空军雷达兵). As noted in a 2020 Xinhua commentary, the Air Force Radar Troops are “The Republic’s ‘Eyes That See a Thousand Miles’.” This edition does a short debrief of some of the reportage surrounding their role and relevance in the PLA over the past few years.
On April 22, 1950, the first radar battalion of the Chinese military was established in Nanjing. Since then, the radar forces have been trained at the Friendship Pass radar station on China’s southwest border (one of the world’s largest and most high-tech border crossings, between China and Vietnam – also known as the Youyiguan Radar Station). As the above-cited Xinhua article recites, every new recruit’s first lesson is held beside a “rusted and battle-scarred radar shelter at the mountaintop outpost.” In this symbolic setting, recruits are taught to carry on the immortal “soul of the soldier” — “If the soldier is here, the post is here; if the soldier is here, the antenna turns; if the soldier is here, the intelligence flows” (point is, soldiers at the radar station get work done and train subsequent generations of radar troops).
Below is a discussion of the kind of military exercises radar troops engage in, and the purposes they serve in battle:
I. Conveying Information
In 1950, radar troops were deployed in the Korean War. As a 2020 article suggests, they did so to “resist the US.” The radar units gave the air force and anti-aircraft artillery “sharp eyes,” in a bid to strike the enemy’s air power.
Comments made by a former Air Force combat officer Han Decai suggested that the radar troops “magically provide the Air Force commander with unlimited aerial visibility, truly becoming the commander’s eyes.”
II. Seeing Farther from Higher
Radar troops operate in high, snowy plateaus and mountain regions (5000 meters and above) to be able to “see farther.” A primary example of such a deployment is at the Ganbala Radar Station, the highest manually operated radar station in the world. In 2021, a 5G network station was also established at Ganbala, enabling some degree of remote operation as well.
To avoid terrain obstructions, radars are usually placed atop high mountains. These high-altitude posts provide radar troops the ability to form China’s initial flank in aerospace defence.
The radar troops’ slogans, the “Ganbala Spirit” [甘巴拉精神] and the enduring “Snow Lotus Spirit” [雪莲精神] (based on the mountainous plant growing in Tibet). They are also taught that turning on the radar equals entering combat, indicating their vitality as the first line of defence.
Some of the coverage on these rigorous deployment requirements also discusses the tensions PLAAF officers face. Some of these are discussed in a November 2023 CCTV article on “Dialectics” of radar soldiers.
The piece starts by highlighting that from Beijing, one must take a plane, a high-speed train, a car, and finally a boat to reach high-altitude radar stations. Further, it narrates the story of Pei Chaozhou, a radar technician. Pei was among the first to land on the island. After over 20 years as a radar technician, he still recalls the early days: a few radar sets, some stone huts, and a barren field. On the rugged and uneven terrain, feet were the only transport. Isolation, harshness, and hardship laid the foundation for their perseverance.
Power technician Peng Ming’an, also from the first group, proudly recounted those tough beginnings: digging wells for water, running electricity from nearby fishing villages, and manually building roads with collected stones. “Even decorating my own home wasn’t this hard,” joked a soldier.
But when it comes to their real homes and families, they fall silent. “It feels like my kid grew up like in a movie—born one second, grown the next,” said Pei, recalling his son’s growth only through photos and videos.
Private Liu Zihan, from Shanxi, is the farthest from home. He says, “Each leave means crossing half of China. It really makes you realize how vast our country is.” The challenges faced by soldiers, especially when they are single sons or breadwinners for their nuclear families, can speak to the tensions that exist at the grassroots in the PLA. Though, these are not unique to China or its forces.
III. Operating Electronic Systems for Aerial Suppression and Early Warning
Here’s an excerpt from a 2019 exercise conducted by the radar troops to explain their role in handling early warning weapons systems: On October 1, 2019, the KJ-2000, KJ-500, and KJ-200 early warning aircraft, along with the latest generation of air defense and missile early warning systems, formed an aerial and ground early warning formation.
“Since making their debut in 2009, this was the radar troops’ fourth time appearing in a military parade,” said Li Guoping, parade formation leader and Assistant Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The continued unveiling of new weapons and equipment signals the transformation of radar troops from behind-the-scenes support to a key “strategic force.”
From importing systems to independently developing them, and then to innovating entirely new designs, radar modernization has accelerated. First-generation radars are being phased out, second-generation radars are being deployed in large numbers, and a system combining third-generation as the core with emerging fourth-generation radars is forming an integrated ground-air early warning network. There also exist “sprint teams” within PLAAF radar troops that can respond to emergencies running. An example is the story of cook Guo Shiqi, who as soon as he dropped his ladle mid-serve during the troops’ lunch, the dining hall was empty. The reporter of that story commented that he tried running to the post from the kitchen, which took more than double the average soldier’s time.
The above-mentioned exercise revealed that for the radar troops, regular deployment to plateaus, islands, deserts, coastal areas, and border regions has become the norm. Further, their drills now commonly feature topics like joint air-ground surveillance, site camouflage, radar counter-jamming, and survivability. For these purposes, training regimens are created accordingly. As discussed in an 81.cn report from April 22, 2025, marking the 75th anniversary, the Air Force Early Warning Academy is known as the “cradle” of the PLA’s radar force. It is meant to create generations of radar troops that can erect an “electromagnetic Great Wall,” and a “skynet to shield the heavens.”
IV. Cartography
As per an 81.cn article on the radar troops from 2023, one outpost, over ten years, produced over ten thousand maps. These maps—flight trajectory charts—are preserved from combat duty shifts by this radar station under the ambit of the Eastern Theater Command Air Force.
Interestingly, the article further comments, that the first chart from ten years earlier showed on the azimuth-distance axis, scattered dots that represented foreign aircraft with ill intentions, approaching China’s doorstep. Ten years later, the dense red lines of PLAAF aircraft became the main theme on the charts.
From the radar troops’ perspective, trajectory charts are critical to analysing airspace situations and sharing duty insights. For this purpose, radar stations are supposedly equipped with study rooms and training halls where new personnel shadow seniors, and where regular “Study-Training-Combat” (学研战) activities are conducted.
Interestingly, this “Study-Train-Combat” loop, in addition to the “study–research–innovation–application” loop, is fundamental to the PLAAF’s overall educational approach. As early as 2008, the Air Force established the Air Force Military Vocational University to carry out military vocational education for all Air Force officers and enlisted personnel. In 2020, the Central Military Commission issued the Regulations on Military Vocational Education for the Armed Forces, providing overarching guidelines and institutional guarantees for the comprehensive implementation of military vocational education across the military. As part of the PLAAF’s endeavours to “continuously deepening reforms in military vocational education,” the two concepts were established.
V. Monitoring Air Traffic
As continued in the above-cited 2023 article, didactically, radar troops are taught a line from a poem written by a soldier at an Eastern Theater Air Force Radar Station: “To capture the enemy in inches, and win from miles away.”
But how does one win from an inch-wide screen?
The radar display shows masses of data, moving patterns, signals like stars, and lines criss-crossing the screen. When Peng Ming’an once visited a radar unit inland, he discovered their radar station handled several times more air traffic than others. “We never realized our tiny outpost was so crucial,” he told a reporter.
What do the troops do with this control over data? They supposedly provide a “strategic pivot” and “key information point” to advancing naval and aerial formations. In the history of one radar station, reportedly, thousands of flight trajectories are categorised, new tactics are developed, many articles are published in technical journals, and manuals are adopted by higher authorities.
In this process, radar troops are specifically expected to continue doing their tedious jobs. As the story continues, once, troops at said station were monitoring an intense face-off between aircraft. Still, no matter how intense things got, the operators were expected to sit quietly before their screens, logging data, clicking mice, and relaying messages.
In this regard, the reporter of the story acknowledges another challenge of radar troops’ jobs: “auditory silence and visual overload coexist.” As Matthew Gault, a journalist studying military experiences put it on his Medium blog, “It’s an awful job where a pilot — instead of sitting in a cockpit — sits inside a metal box in front of a computer screen for hours. Drone pilots are overworked, over-stressed, and pissed off.” He says this about drone pilots, but it does apply to the radar troops too. But at the same time, he acknowledges the value of the tedium by commenting, “[with] a switch of radar mode—suddenly, the hidden targets stand out like invisible ink on white paper. One quick report determines the outcome of a silent battle.”
Some news covered in yesterday’s (April 22, 2025) coverage of the 75th anniversary: An “honor room” renovation at the Western Theater Air Force’s radar brigade station, known as the ‘Excellent Fourth Post on Kunlun Mountain’, is underway. The post earned this title from the Air Force in 1964. The reportage on this radar brigade station has revealed that due to the tumultuous terrain of deployment, they have launched “challenge projects” focusing on weaknesses in coordination, training bottlenecks, and limits of equipment performance.
There is also a story in the above-cited report on an exercise this brigade station’s troops conducted to retrieve something marked as ‘Kunlun stone’ from high atop a hill in the Karakoram mountain range. Some excerpts:
As military vehicles wound through the Karakoram Mountains, station commander Li studied mission details with increasing seriousness. Just days earlier, he had received orders to lead an elite team to the plateau.
While station rotations were common, this time the mission took them to a completely unfamiliar site, with unknown terrain and battlefield communications conditions.
After setup, they completed combat readiness. But a drill soon revealed limitations—an incoming “enemy” aircraft vanished from the radar due to blind spots caused by terrain. Analysis showed moving the radar site higher could greatly improve detection. However, the only path up was a treacherous “gut-wrenching road” just wide enough for a person, flanked by cliffs.
At a tactical meeting, party members debated the risks. Li made it clear: “If we ignore combat effectiveness for safety alone, it all means nothing.” With safety precautions, they widened the path; higher command coordinated heavy equipment support. During this endeavour, someone spotted the marked “Kunlun stone.”
Eventually, the radar vehicle reached the summit, and deployment succeeded. They tested new capabilities and reportedly adapted the radar for extreme conditions.
Eye on China is a weekly newsletter curated by the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at The Takshashila Institution, a public policy think-tank based out of Bengaluru, India.
