PLAAF Overhauls Grassroots Merit System to Focus on Combat Readiness

The People's Liberation Army Air Force has overhauled its quarterly grassroots evaluation framework across multiple units, replacing exhaustive paperwork with streamlined criteria centered on combat capability. Under guidance aligned with the military's grassroots construction regulations, the revised assessment eliminates over a hundred granular metrics—such as barracks housekeeping and routine chores—that previously diverted troops into administrative score-chasing. Instead, units now assess personnel primarily on performance in major operational tasks and peer reviews, aiming to directly tie internal recognition and advancement to battlefield readiness.

The reform targets a persistent structural problem in the Chinese military: performative bureaucracy and micromanagement at the company and battalion levels. By replacing hundreds of checklist items with high-stakes performance benchmarks like joint drills, competitions, and technical innovations, the PLAAF is attempting to ensure that peacetime administrative routines do not dilute operational focus.

Multiple units across the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) have revamped their quarterly evaluation procedures to eliminate burdensome paperwork and align troop incentives directly with operational readiness, according to state and military media reports. The changes modify the quarterly 'Two Contends' evaluation, a staple PLA assessment mechanism used to select outstanding grassroots units and individual service members. Under the previous model, evaluation guidelines contained more than 10 categories spanning over 100 granular indicators, covering routine housekeeping, study notes, and day-to-day administrative chores. The sprawling system generated thick ledgers of documentation, leading both staff officers and enlisted personnel to fixate on minor point allocations rather than core training. To address this administrative drag, the PLAAF Party Committee directed units to streamline assessments in accordance with the military's Outline for Military Grassroots Construction. Rather than sifting through bound dossiers of paperwork, inspecting officers at participating units now track performance using condensed multi-page reporting forms. Under the reformed model, evaluation scores have been condensed primarily into two pillars: performance in major tasks and democratic peer assessments. Major tasks are designed to capture an individual's direct contribution to combat effectiveness, incorporating participation in joint exercises and training, results in military skills competitions, and verified technical innovations. Routine points previously awarded for general chores and barracks upkeep have been eliminated. Official reports highlighted concrete examples of the new incentives in practice. In one PLAAF brigade, top quarterly honors went to a second-class sergeant who placed first in a higher-headquarters skills competition and another noncommissioned officer whose independently modified sight passed formal testing. Leaders at the brigade noted that prior assessments had allowed some personnel to accumulate points through trivial errands while treating difficult operational training subjects merely as pass-fail hurdles. Following initial implementation in select brigades, the combat-oriented evaluation model is expanding across additional Air Force units, with commanding officers reporting that the shift reduces administrative processing time and redirects headquarters staff toward frontline combat support.