Chinese Military Aircraft Designations

Copyright © 2001-2026 Andreas Parsch

1 First Aircraft Designation System

2 Current Aircraft Designation System

3 Designation Listing

4 Ministry of Aviation Industry Designation System (1987)

5 Unified Designation System for Military Equipment (2012)

6 Engines, Drones, Missiles, Space Launchers, and Satellites

7 Main Sources

1 First Aircraft Designation System

In the 1950s, the first military aircraft produced in the People's Republic of China used two different designations. During development, the designation consisted of a role-specific name and a 3-digit number. The first digit was also tied to the role, while the second and third digits increased sequentially. The following role names and numbers were defined:

It is possible, that the name 和平 (Hépíng, "Peace") and the digit 4 were reserved for transport aircraft.

When a type was accepted for service, it was called "Type xx", with xx being the last two digits of the first year of service.

Designation Listing

2 Current Aircraft Designation System

In 1964, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) of the PRC introduced a new aircraft designation system, which is used to this day. Designations within this system are allocated to military aircraft manufactured in China. Imported types are operated under their original designations.

(1) Primary Mission/Type Letters

The basic designation of an aircraft consists of primary mission/type letters (1) and a sequence number (2). Usually, a dash is inserted to the left of the sequence number. However, designations are also often presented without that dash, and it is unclear what the official guideline is (if there is any).

The mission/type letters are abbreviations of the Pinyin transcription of the Chinese mission/type names:

(2) Sequence Number

A separate numerical sequence is used for each primary mission/type letter (or two-letter combination). The sequences start with number 5. One explanation, which has been quoted, is that number 4 is regarded as "unlucky" in traditional Chinese culture (similar to 13 in the West), and is to be avoided. Instead of skipping only number 4, the Chinese decided to begin with number 5.

There are reports of designations with numbers below 5, but all of these are more or less hypothetical and not definitely confirmed. An example is the designation J-4, which is often associated with the Chinese MiG-17F. However, several authors say, that this is actually a Western invention, and that MiG-17Fs were never called J-4 in China. In fact, all numbers below 5 in the older series (J, CJ, Y) are attributed to imported Soviet aircraft. Because these are supposedly not covered by the designation system, this is further circumstantial evidence that the alleged designations are fictitious.

Initially, the numbers were assigned in strict numerical sequence, but this is apparently no longer the case. It seems that sometimes a whole block of numbers is skipped, to give an advanced design some significant "round" number, e.g. J-20, J-35, H-20.

(3) Modified Mission Letters

Training, reconnaissance and other modifications of aircraft use a second prefix letter, following the primary one:

This results in the following two-letter prefixes:

• HD (轰电, Hōng Diàn) - Bomber, modified for EW
• HJ (轰教, Hōng Jiào) - Bomber Trainer
• HY (轰油, Hōng Yóu) - Bomber, modified as Tanker
• HZ (轰侦, Hōng Zhēn) - Reconnaissance Bomber
• JJ (歼教, Jiān Jiào) - Fighter Trainer
• JZ (歼侦, Jiān Zhēn) - Reconnaissance Fighter
• QD (强电, Qiáng Diàn) - Attack, modified for EW
• YY (运油, Yùn Yóu) - Transport, modified as Tanker

(4) Suffix

Various suffixes (usually letters, but sometimes letter/number combinations) are used to designate variants and modifications, but these are not standardized. Some suffixes are assigned sequentially (sometimes I, II, III, IV ..., rarely 甲, 乙, 丙 (Jiǎ, Yǐ, Bǐng) ..., mostly A, B, C ...), while others are abbreviations for specific words, designating e.g. a modified mission.

"Special" Designations

The PLA uses at least two special designation categories, which are apparently treated differently from the standard categories listed above:

3 Designation Listing

3.1 BA - Bǎ jī (Target Drone)

3.2 CJ - Chū jiàoliàn jī (Primary Trainer)

3.3 GJ - Gōngjí wú rén jī (UCAV)

It is not clear, if the GJ designations really fit into the designation scheme, because the series starts at 1 (instead of the usual 5). On the other hand, the first designations appeared only recently, and maybe the practice of starting a series with 5 has been abandoned.

3.4 H - Hōngzhàjī (Bomber)

3.5 J - Jiānjíjī (Fighter)

* These designations are speculative, and not officially confirmed. Especially J-50 is most likely an invention of aerospace analysts.

3.6 JL - Jiàoliàn jī (Trainer)

JL replaced CJ, and continued the CJ numerical sequence.

3.7 Q - Qiángjíjī (Attack)

3.8 SH - Shuǐshàng hōngzhàjī (Maritime Bomber)

3.9 WZ - Wú rén zhēnchá jī (Reconnaissance UAV)

3.10 X - Xiángjī (Glider)

3.11 Y - Yùnshūjī (Transport)

* The Y-15 designation is unconfirmed. Before the prototype's first flight in December 2025, the project was usually referred to as Y-30.

3.12 Z - Zhíshēngjī (Helicopter)

3.13 KJ - Kōngzhōng yùjǐngjī (AEW)

* The KJ-3000 designation is speculative, and not officially confirmed.

3.14 KQ - Kōngzhōng fǎnqiánjī (ASW)

4 Ministry of Aviation Industry Designation System (1987)

Note: This section is based on an official Chinese document, see source [5]. Thanks go to Secret Projects Forum user WarTinder, who provided a digital copy of that document.

In 1987, the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the PRC published a document with a naming standard for aircraft and some major aircraft-related systems (engines, air-to-air missiles). This was not a military standard, but the aircraft designation system was basically identical to the military system, and defined a significantly extended and slightly revised list of mission/type letters:

It seems that PLA aircraft designations were not really affected by this standard, though. E.g. none of the various surveillance or AEW aircraft use the letter "E" or "G" in their designation. An interesting exception might be the reported redesignation of the JZ-8F (reconnaissance variant of the J-8) to JC-8F with a C-for-Reconnaissance modifier. It is also unclear, if this standard is still formally valid today.

5 Unified Designation System for Military Equipment (2012)

Note: This section is pieced together from some known designations and various incomplete internet sources on the subject. Many of the latter are in Chinese language, where I had to rely on computer translations, the accuracy of which I cannot judge.

Until the 1980s, the various service branches of the PLA (Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, 2nd Artillery Corps) used fundamentally different designation systems for their weapons and equipment, or didn't use consistent designations at all. This began to change in 1987, when a new standard to designate equipment of the Ground Force (tanks, vehicles, guns, etc.) was issued. In the same year, the Ministry of Aviation Industry published an extended standard for designating aircraft (see Section 4), incorporating also aircraft engines and air-to-air missile armament. These standardization efforts gradually evolved to cover more systems, and eventually resulted in a regulation titled (auto-translated) "Naming Regulations for Equipment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", created in 2012. This regulation outlines a framework for unified military equipment designations for all branches of the PLA. A designation in that framework follows this scheme:

ZZZ/X/TYYYnnn

Meaning of the components:

• ZZZ: Subsystem/component of an equipment (like e.g. the engine); one or more letters, which are the initials of the Pinyin transcription of the Chinese subsystem/component name.
• X: Single letter to designate the service branch, which is using the equipment:
  - H: Navy (海軍, Hǎijūn)
  - K: Air Force (空軍, Kōngjūn)
  - L: Ground Force (陸軍, Lùjūn) (note 1)
  - P or E: Rocket Force (former 2nd Artillery Corps) (possibly 砲兵, Pàobīng for "Artillery"; or 二, Èr for "2") (note 2)
  - ?: Strategic Support Force (note 3)
• T: Single letter to designate the basic category of the equipment. The different branches define different sets of category letters, but some letters appear to be used across branches. Two examples of such commonly used category letters are:
  - A: Missile
  - J: Aircraft
• YYY: One or more letters further designating the equipment type.
  - For aircraft, these are often, but not always, the type designation letters of the aircraft's role/number designation.
  - For missiles, usually two letters are used, which often seem to indicate the launch environment (K - air, D - ground, J - ship, Q - submarine) and target type (K - aircraft, D - ground, J - ship or radar).
• nnn: Numbers, optionally followed by further letters, to designate the specific equipment. This is usually the same type number (plus optional suffix letters) as used in shorter name- or role-based designations of the equipment.

A few examples for aircraft and missiles:

6 Engines, Drones, Missiles, Space Launchers, and Satellites

Back in 2001, Andreas Gehrs-Pahl provided most of the data presented on the original version of this page. At that time, he had also compiled listings of Chinese engines, drones, missiles, space launchers, and satellites. While these listings fall outside the scope of this aircraft designation page, and include only data up to 2001, it's still worth to publish them. Therefore, I provide the lists "as is" in the following file:

Chinese Aero-Engines and Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles, by Andreas Gehrs-Pahl

7 Main Sources

[1] Yefim Gordon, Dmitriy Komissarov: "Chinese Aircraft", Hikoki Publications, 2008
[2] Andreas Rupprecht: "Modern Chinese Warplanes: Chinese Air Force - Aircraft and Units", Harpia Publishing, 2018
[3] Andreas Rupprecht: "Chinese Air Power in the 20th Century: Rise of the Red Dragon", Harpia Publishing, 2019
[4] Scramble Website: China
[5] Ministry of Aviation Industry of the PRC: "航空主机产品型号命名" (Naming of Aircraft and Engine Models), 1987

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Last Updated: 28 January 2026