Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in the context of "Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan"

The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces (IJAF, full Japanese: 帝国陸海軍, romanized: Teikoku riku-kaigun or Nippon-gun (日本軍) for short, meaning "Japanese Forces") were the unified forces of the Empire of Japan. Formed during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were disbanded in 1945, shortly after Japan's defeat to the Allies of World War II; the revised Constitution of Japan, drafted during the Allied occupation of Japan, replaced the IJAF with the present-day Japan Self-Defense Forces.

The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy functioned as the IJAF's primary service branches, with the country's aerial power being split between the Army Air Service under the former and the Navy Air Service under the latter.

The bombing of Chongqing (simplified Chinese: 重庆大轰炸; traditional Chinese: 重慶大轟炸, Japanese: 重慶爆撃), from 18 February 1938 to 19 December 1944, was a series of massive terror bombing operations authorized by the Empire of Japan's Imperial General Headquarters and conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAF). Resistance was put up by the Chinese Air Force and the National Revolutionary Army's anti-aircraft artillery units in defense of the provisional wartime capital of Chongqing and other targets in Sichuan.

According to incomplete statistics, a total of 268 air raids were conducted against Chongqing, involving anywhere from a few dozen to over 150 bombers per raid. These bombings were probably aimed at cowing the Chinese government, or as part of the proposed Japanese invasion of Sichuan which ultimately never occurred.

Air army is a term used in several countries, notably France, as the equivalent term to air force. In Russia, an air army is a major command within the Russian Air Force.

Historically, a Japanese or Soviet air army was a large military formation, comprising several corps or divisions, in the aviation forces of the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire before and during Second World War. In the Soviet Union, the term remained in use after the war. Throughout most of the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service was organized into four Air Armies, with two more added in the final stages of the war.