Every war the PLA Naval Air Force has fought
Most of the air-combat record rests on Chinese claims alone: Chinese sources credit naval aviation with 239 aircraft shot down and 181 damaged, totals that have not been reconciled with US or ROC records, and each claim is given with the side that makes it. Sources contradict each other on whether naval aviation bombed Vietnamese territory in 1979, and the page records the conflict rather than choosing. For the 2001 Hainan collision the US and Chinese accounts are both given, and for the exercises around Taiwan since 2023 Beijing’s description of the drills and Taiwan’s aircraft counts are each attributed. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the air battles of the first Taiwan Strait crisis in 1954 to carrier exercises around Taiwan today.
| Conflicto | Años | Contra | Avión principal | Salidas | Avión perdido | |
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| The First Taiwan Strait Crisisthe air war off Zhejiang and YijiangshanPLA Naval Aviation | 1954–1955 | Republic of China | MiG-15, La-11, Tu-2 | |||
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Fighter patrols against ROC aircraft over the coast, then bombing and fighter cover for the capture of Yijiangshan. Naval aviation fought its first air battles barely 18 months after its founding. By the account in Chinese Wikipedia, which draws on Chinese military histories, two fighters of the 2nd Division’s 6th Regiment flown by Cui Wei and Jiang Kai shot down two ROC F-47 Thunderbolts over Sanmen Bay on 18 March 1954; further claims followed over Matsu in May and on 3 June. For the Yijiangshan landing, the PLA’s first joint operation, naval Tu-2 bombers and La-11 fighters joined the air force in strikes: English Wikipedia records PLA aircraft attacking ROC artillery and communications from 08:00 to 13:00 on 18 January 1955 and forcing five ROC warships away. Beijing gives its losses in the battle as 393 casualties; the ROC lists 519 killed and 567 captured on the islands. Resultado The PLA took Yijiangshan on 18 January 1955 and the ROC evacuated the Dachens in February 1955 with US cover. The air-combat claims are Chinese only; no ROC account of these engagements was reached. Casualty figures are for the whole battle, not the air arm.
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| The Second Taiwan Strait Crisisthe Kinmen crisisPLA Naval Aviation (with the PLA Air Force) | 1958 | Republic of China | MiG-15, J-5 | |||
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Naval fighter regiments joined the air force in the air battles over the strait during the shelling of Kinmen. In the Chinese account the crisis produced naval aviation’s best-known claim: Wang Zichong’s F-86 kill, which Chinese Wikipedia calls the first time an aircraft carrying air-to-air missiles was shot down. The ROC and US account of the same weeks stresses the opposite: on 24 September 1958 ROC Sabres fired the AIM-9 Sidewinder in combat for the first time, and Taipei claimed heavy MiG losses. Neither side’s figures can be matched to the other’s, and the naval share of PLA losses is not published. Resultado The shelling settled into an alternate-day pattern; the offshore islands stayed with the ROC. Only Chinese sources for the naval claim; only ROC and US sources for the loss tallies.
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| Air defence of Hainan and the Gulf of Tonkinthe Vietnam War yearsPLA Naval Aviation | 1964–1970 | United States and Republic of China | J-5, J-6, H-5 | |||
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Intercepted US and ROC reconnaissance aircraft, drones and strike aircraft straying near Chinese territory during the Vietnam War. While Chinese anti-aircraft forces fought inside North Vietnam, naval aviation guarded Hainan and the Gulf of Tonkin, where US aircraft flying to and from carriers and Thailand sometimes crossed Chinese-claimed airspace. Chinese Wikipedia lists the claims summarised above, including the use of H-5 bombers to illuminate a P2V-7 at night for fighters. Over its whole history Chinese sources credit naval aviation with 239 aircraft shot down and 181 damaged; that total, like the individual claims, is China’s own and has not been reconciled with US or ROC records. Resultado China’s forces withdrew from North Vietnam by 1969–1970; incidents off Hainan ceased as the US war wound down. Chinese claims only; the US side was not reached for this page. Treat the totals as claims.
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| The Battle of the Paracel Islandsthe clash with South VietnamPLA (aviation role marginal) | 1974 | Republic of Vietnam | J-6 | 0 | ||
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A single J-6 escorted the Chinese ships at the limit of its range. English Wikipedia notes that a Shenyang J-6 escorted the Chinese ships south but, operating at extreme range, had only five minutes over the Paracels. The battle was fought by warships; it showed how little air cover China could give its navy in the South China Sea, a gap later closed by Woody Island’s runway (1990) and the carriers. Which service the J-6 belonged to is not stated in the source. Resultado China took the western Paracels on 19–20 January 1974. Vietnam and Taiwan still claim the islands. Air role marginal; the service of the escorting aircraft is not confirmed. |
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| The Sino-Vietnamese Warthe 1979 border warPLA Navy (naval aviation role disputed) | 1979 | Vietnam | ||||
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Disputed: Deng Xiaoping ordered the navy and air force to stay out of the war, but English Wikipedia’s naval aviation article claims bombing missions. The war ran from 17 February to 16 March 1979. The Wikipedia article on the war, and this site’s air force page, record that Deng Xiaoping kept the navy and air force out. The English Wikipedia article on naval aviation nevertheless says the naval air force carried out "many successful bombing and airstrike missions" against Vietnamese territory, "such as in the Spratly Islands". The two statements cannot both be right, and no primary source for the naval claim was found; this page records the conflict rather than choosing. Resultado Chinese ground forces withdrew on 16 March 1979. Sources contradict each other; the naval bombing claim is UNVERIFIED. |
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| The Hainan Island collisionthe EP-3 incidentPLA Naval Aviation | 2001 | Estados Unidos | J-8II | 2 | 1 | |
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Two naval J-8IIs from Lingshui intercepted a US Navy EP-3E; one collided with it. On 1 April 2001 at about 09:15 a VQ-1 EP-3E from Kadena was intercepted by two J-8IIs. The US account is that the EP-3 was on autopilot in straight and level flight when Wang Wei’s fighter struck its wing. China’s account, from his wingman, is that the US aircraft veered into the J-8. China kept both flight recorders and has not released their data. Lt Shane Osborn landed the crippled EP-3 at Lingshui after at least 15 unanswered distress calls. China honoured Wang Wei as a "Guardian of Territorial Airspace and Waters"; the US described its letter as regret, not an apology. Resultado The crew were released after the US letter expressing that it was "very sorry"; the EP-3E was returned dismantled from 3 July 2001. Each side’s account of the collision is given; neither can be checked against the recorders.
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| Gulf of Aden escort missionsanti-piracy task forcesPLA Navy, with ship-borne helicopters | 2008– | Pirates | Z-9C, Ka-28 | |||
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Ship-borne helicopters fly with the navy’s escort task forces protecting merchant shipping. On 26 December 2008 the PLA Navy sent the destroyers Haikou and Wuhan with the supply ship Weishanhu to the Gulf of Aden, its first operational deployment beyond Asian waters; English Wikipedia notes 16 special forces and helicopters on board. Escort task forces have rotated since. In 2015 frigates from the mission evacuated at least 600 Chinese and 225 foreign citizens from Yemen. Which helicopter types flew on each rotation is not published; the Z-9C and Ka-28 are the standard destroyer and frigate helicopters. Resultado Continuing; the task forces were also diverted to evacuate civilians from Libya (2011) and Yemen (2015). Helicopter types per rotation UNVERIFIED. |
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| Exercises around TaiwanJoint Sword and Strait ThunderPLA Navy carrier groups within Eastern Theater Command exercises | 2023– | J-15, Z-18, Z-9 | 120 | 0 | ||
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Carrier groups simulated strikes and blockade from east of Taiwan during large exercises. Shandong took part in the April 2023 drills, flying 120 take-offs and landings in 48 hours. Liaoning joined Joint Sword-2024B on 14 October 2024. In Strait Thunder-2025A on 1–2 April 2025 the Shandong group operated east of Taiwan, rehearsing "ship-aircraft coordination, regional air control, and sea and land strikes"; Taiwan reported it 24 nautical miles off its coast, the closest yet, and counted at least 76 and 59 PLA aircraft on the two days. The Eastern Theater Command called the drills a "serious warning and powerful deterrent to the separatist forces"; Taiwan’s government said it was monitoring and the US State Department called them "aggressive military activities". No carrier was recorded in Justice Mission 2025 (29–30 December 2025). Resultado Continuing pattern of exercises; no hostilities. Beijing presents the drills as a warning to "separatist forces"; Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te called the December 2025 drills "not something that a responsible power should do". Aircraft counts are Taiwan’s.
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| Carrier deployments into the Western Pacificencounters with JapanPLA Naval Aviation (carrier air wings) | 2016– | J-15 | 550 | 0 | ||
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Carrier training beyond the first and, since 2025, the second island chain, with intercepts of Japanese patrol aircraft and fighters. In December 2016 Liaoning exercised in the Western Pacific, passing through the Miyako Strait. In June 2025 Liaoning and Shandong operated together beyond the first island chain, and Japan’s Defense Ministry reported a carrier east of Iwo-To. Japan says a Chinese fighter made an unusual close approach to a JSDF aircraft in June 2025 (Wikipedia names a Shandong J-15 and a JMSDF P-3C about 550 km south-east of Miyako) and that in December 2025 a Chinese fighter intermittently illuminated a JSDF aircraft with radar for about 30 minutes; Japan’s Joint Staff identifies carrier J-15s and JASDF F-15s. Tokyo called the radar use "a dangerous act". China’s response, as reported, was that the Japanese aircraft had disrupted its training. Resultado Continuo. Japanese and Chinese accounts of the December 2025 incident differ; both are given.
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No se encontraron coincidencias con esa búsqueda.
Cada cifra, verificada
- Japan Ministry of Defense: Defense of Japan 2026, Digest (English)Page 2: carrier activity east of Iwo-To and two carriers in the Pacific in June 2025; unusual close approach by a Chinese fighter to a JSDF aircraft in June and by a fighter-bomber in July; carrier in the Pacific east of Okinawa to Amami Oshima in December; intermittent radar illumination of a JSDF aircraft for about 30 minutes in December, called "a dangerous act".
- Japan Joint Staff: FY2025 scramble report (17 April 2026)December 2025 radar illumination of JASDF F-15s by carrier-based J-15s (as recorded in the JASDF dataset of this site).
Cifras verificadas el 1 de octubre de 2026. Back to the People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force.