The PLAAF Airborne Corps traces its lineage to the 9th Column, created in August 1947, as part of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henen Field Army under Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping.

The unit participated in the Chinese Civil War and afterwards it carried out anti-bandit operations in southern Sichuan before being deployed in Korea in February 1951.

As of 1985, most of the soldiers in the 15th Corps were ordinary paratroopers trained for general supporting duties in a combined army campaign.

[7] In May 1989, the 15th Airborne Corps’ 43rd and 44th Paratrooper Brigades were deployed to Beijing to enforce martial law and suppress the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Doctrinal modernization change allows the PLAAF Airborne Corps to act as a principal force employed for independent campaign missions in future wars.

It is now accepted that the airborne troops should be used for pre-emptive attack on the enemy's key military targets in the rear area in order to paralyze or disrupt its preparation for an offensive.

Although the Airborne Corps was limited by a lack of sufficient airlift capacity, as of 2024 it can use the Airforce's growing capabilities (in particular its Y-20 fleet) to mobilize most of its troops.

In 2006 Dennis Blasko wrote that the PLAAF Airborne Corps headquarters is in Xiaogan, north of Wuhan in Hubei.

During a number of exercises, the PLAAF Airborne Corps has demonstrated it can move a brigade-sized force plus of paratroopers with light armored vehicles to anywhere within China in less than 24 hours.

The PLAAF Airborne Corps' weapons inventory includes 50-100 ZBD-03 derivatives and 2S9 self-propelled mortars, large numbers of BJ212 jeeps with 105mm recoilless rifles or HJ-11 ATGM, and Type 89 120 mm SP anti-tank guns.

After recent restructuring efforts, however, a number of varying weapons and field equipment are now deployed specific to the responsibilities of the integral unit and battlefield requirements.

[17] In 2018 a Chinese paratrooper team placed second in the Airborne Platoon contest at the 2018 International Army Games[19] The People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps operates mechanized infantry formations with light tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, anti-tank missile carriers, and light training aircraft.