China's Defense/Military Breaking News Thread

[taxiya]

Literal translation: PLA, Rocketary Army
Army in Chinese can be equal to two different English concept. One of them is a branch of armed forces, such as Army, Navy and Air Force.
In this case, it is equivlant to the Russian strategic rocket force. A independent branch. The old name "second artillary corps" did not signify the troops as independant branch but rather give the impression of it under the Army. Now it formally and openly takes its own stand.

Literal translation: PLA, strategic support corps.
I have no idea what this includes. Note, corps (just like "second artillary corps") can mean an independant branch, or just part of a branch like communication troops or engineering troops.
As it is "strategic", one possibility is that it is a sub unit of the new branch "Rocketary Army".

 

[taxiya]

Shouldn't that count as the fifth branch since the fourth is the Second Artillery Corps?

I guess it is still four branches. In U.S. practice, Marine Corps is a branch. But in China, a branch carries the Chinese word "军", usually literally translated as "army" but probably better to "Force", example, Army 陆(land)军(army/force), Navy 海(marine)军(army/force), Air Force 空(air)军(army/force). The formal second artillary was in Chinese "二(2nd)炮(artillary)部队(corps/troop)", the word 部队 does not signify the force as a branch although in fact it is as it is independent of the army. Now, 2nd artillary gets the name "Rocket Force/Army", it is offically a branch. But the new "Strategic support corps/troop" is only a 部队, not an 军 (branch).

 

[Phoenix_Rising]

Chestbadge of 3 newly formed branches.
PLA Ground Force:

PLA Rocket Force:

PLA Strategic Support Force:


I didnt expect that PLA set up a branch specificlly for space survalliance and information security.

The ceremony was held today in the August 1 Building. I m on my cellphone and a bit difficult to post that news…

 

[taxiya]

Chestbadge of 3 newly formed branches.
PLA Strategic Support Force:
View attachment 23368

It seems that I was wrong in calling it a sub-unit of the Rocket force. But I would not translate it as "Force" but rather "corps" just like the old "second artillary corps". I think "Force" in English usually means a armed force branch such as the Navy. It is equivlant to Chinese "军种". "部队" in Chinese on the other hand and in this case, is not a full fledged branch, and should be translated to "corps" in English. For examples, "铁道兵部队" = Railway Corps, "工程兵部队" = Engineering Corps, "第二炮兵部队" = Second Artillry Corps.

In a broader aspect, I wouldn't call it 3 new branches. Because the Land force is always there, only difference today is that it get its own administritive HQ similar to the US Army department.

I would say, a new branch (rocket force) and a new corps (部队，兵种) strategic support corps.

 

[taxiya]

Chestbadge of 3 newly formed branches.
PLA Ground Force:
View attachment 23365
PLA Rocket Force:
View attachment 23366
PLA Strategic Support Force:
View attachment 23368

I didnt expect that PLA set up a branch specificlly for space survalliance and information security.

The ceremony was held today in the August 1 Building. I m on my cellphone and a bit difficult to post that news…

The chest badge of "strategic support corps" indicate that it is supporting all branches of the armed forces making it not an sub-branch of the "rocket force" as I guessed before.

 

[supercat]

Here is Reuters' take on the story:

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China creates three new military units in push to modernize army

China has created three new military units and will update equipment as well as modernizing its command structure, state media said on Friday, as part of a major overhaul of the armed forces announced by President Xi Jinping in November.

Xi's push to reform the military coincides with China becoming more assertive in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. China's navy is investing in submarines and aircraft carriers and its air force is developing stealth fighters.

At a ceremony on Thursday, Xi inaugurated a new general command unit for the army, a missile force and a strategic support force for People's Liberation Army (PLA), state news agency Xinhua said.

State television showed Xi handing over a large red flag to Li Zuocheng, the new head of the land command force. Li was previously commander of the key Chengdu military region, which includes restless and strategically vital Tibet.

The missile force is taking over from the Second Artillery Corps to control the country's nuclear arsenal but keeping the same commander, Wei Fenghe.

Xinhua said Xi urged the new unit to "enhance nuclear deterrence and counter-strike capacity, medium- and long-range precision strike ability, as well as strategic check-and-balance capacity to build a strong and modern Rocket Force".

His reforms include establishing a joint operational command structure by 2020 and rejigging existing military regions, as well as cutting troop numbers by 300,000, a surprise announcement he made in September.

In a separate report listing the powerful Central Military Commission's recommendations on the reform process, Xinhua said the troop cuts will focus on non-combat personnel.

Phasing out old equipment and developing new weaponry as well as reducing the number of models operated will be another big feature of the reforms, Xinhua said.

China has been moving rapidly to upgrade its military hardware, but integration of complex systems across a regionalized command structure has been a major challenge.

The troop cuts and broader reform program have proven controversial, though, and the military's newspaper has published a series of commentaries warning of opposition to the reforms and concern about job losses.

Xi has also made rooting out deeply entrenched corruption in the military a top priority, and dozens of senior officers have been investigated and jailed.

In summary, the three new units are:
- General Command Unit
- Missile Force
- Strategic Support Force

It seems to me that China's military now have 5 branches (The Army, Navy, Air Force, Missile Force, Strategic Support Force) and a central command organization (General Command Unit).

 

[escobar]

More about the SSF :

Spoiler: link

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...
Yang did not get into much detail about what the Strategic Support Force is, but said it is a force which combines the strategic, basic and support resources of the country's new type of combat forces.

But Song said this new force is mainly aimed at providing resources capable of protecting China's cyber and space security.

Song said the establishment of the Strategic Support Force shows the Chinese leadership's vision of building a military that can meet the challenges of not only traditional warfare but also of new warfare centered on new technology
...

 

[Deino]

Chestbadge of 3 newly formed branches.
PLA Ground Force:

PLA Rocket Force:

PLA Strategic Support Force:

...

If the Ground Force is a separate branch, but where is the PLAAF and PLN ?

 

[plawolf]

If the Ground Force is a separate branch, but where is the PLAAF and PLN ?

I thinks its more that the ground forces has now been split into 3 separate entities, whereas before they were all grouped as one.

 

[Phoenix_Rising]

If the Ground Force is a separate branch, but where is the PLAAF and PLN ?

Cuz the Army was once special and some sort of "beyond" the Navy and the Air Force. There was no ground force leading agency, the “4 General Departments” of CMC did that job.

At all begin, PLAN and PLAAF was not actually "found", they were realigned from PLA ground troops. i.e. The very first personnel of PLAN was a regiment of the 3rd Field Army. So, PLAN &PLAAF were little brothers of the Army.

For decades, PLA consider homeland defence as primary objective, thus the Army was the centre of the entire military force, Navy and Air Force were just affiliated.