News network big news about the PLA!
What is the big news? The strategic support force, which has been formed less than nine years ago, has been withdrawn, and the strategic support force has been divided into three, namely: the military space force, the cyberspace force, and the information support force. Before the current military reform, our army was in a "5+1" pattern: the five branches of the armed forces included the army, navy, air force, rocket force, and strategic support force. Among the five branches of the armed forces, the navy, the army, and the air force have a long history, and the rocket force and the strategic support force are both newly established services after the mainland's new round of military reform in 2015. In 2016, our army established a joint logistics support force directly under the Central Military Commission. The "5" of "5+1" is at the level of the main war zone, and the joint logistics support force at the rear is at the level of the deputy war zone. The top five are all branches of the armed forces, and the joint logistics support force is a branch of the armed forces.
In this reform, the strategic support force is a new "4+4" pattern, with the former "four" arms being the army, navy, air force, and rocket force, and the latter "four" arms being the military space force, cyberspace force, information support force, and joint logistics support force. Foreign media rumored in November last year that China would form a new branch of the military, "the world's first near-air command force."
What is meant by "near space"? It is a space 20 to 100 kilometers above the earth, where manned fighters generally cannot fly so high, and in recent years the mainland has made a big breakthrough in armaments in this airspace. However, Zhan Hao believes that this field is obviously not technically mature, and it is unlikely to form such a military branch for the time being, so the "4+4" pattern should be the current mature pattern. Of course, in the future, as equipment like the "Nantianmen" plan becomes more mature, we cannot rule out that such a military branch will really be formed, but that will definitely be a later story.
So, why did the Strategic Support Force split into three just nine years after its establishment? In Zhan Hao's view, there are three fundamental reasons:
First, the situation needs to win the war in the new era
After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Continental Army made great efforts to reform, and made a lot of adjustments according to the needs of winning wars in the new era, for example, in 2015, two new branches of the armed forces, the Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force, were formed. However, with the development of the times, the battlefield situation in the new era is developing rapidly, which requires us to carry out reforms at a faster pace. For example, the United States has established a cyber command as early as 2009, with tens of thousands of cyber troops. In this context, the requirements for the defense line of our country's network security are even higher, so in order to win the cyber war in the new era, we need a higher-level cyber force, so the establishment of a special cyberspace force is the need of the times. The situation with the military space forces is similar to that of the cyberspace forces.
Some people may ask, why didn't we set up a military space force and a cyberspace force earlier? As a matter of fact, our military space forces and cyberspace forces have been developing independently, but in this respect we started late and lagged behind the United States.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the form of warfare in the new era has made us see more clearly, cyberspace security, space security, electromagnetic warfare, and information warfare all require us to have new arms to deal with the changes in the battlefield situation in the new era, so three new arms came into being.
The second is the precise adjustment after practice
Objectively speaking, whether it is space, cyberspace, electromagnetic warfare, or information warfare, these were all newer fields for us in the past, and we started later than a country like the United States, and as a latecomer, we need to explore for a long time if we want to catch up with a global leader like the United States. Now, after eight or nine years of exploration, it is obvious that we have a very complete system in these three areas, so the division of the strategic support force into three is precisely adjusted after in-depth practice, and the adjusted "4+4" pattern is obviously more professional and scientific, and this is the result of the development of the times.
The third is the need for the rapid development of new arms
In the face of the challenges of today's world, the three new arms of the armed forces all need to be more specialized, so the division into three arms and the direct leadership and command of the Central Military Commission is of great significance to the development and construction of the three arms and to the formation of a higher level of combat effectiveness in combat. In particular, the military space forces and the cyberspace forces will obviously have a faster development speed after they become independent. If we want to compete with the United States in space and cyberspace, we must have a higher level of institutional mechanisms. Now our army's "4+4" pattern will be more efficient and rapid in construction in the future, and the results will be more fruitful.
If you look at the current pattern, the four major branches of the armed forces are: the army, navy, air force, and rocket force, all of which are at the regular theater level; the four arms directly under the Central Military Commission are the military space force, the cyberspace force, the information support force, and the joint logistics support force, all of which are at the deputy theater level. With such an organizational structure, is it true that we are clearly ahead of the world in terms of military history? Will the efficiency of construction be significantly higher than that of other countries? Once China clearly surpasses other countries in the concept of building the army, our combat effectiveness will be obvious.
Why is China's military theory the most advanced?
Some people may say, why is our military theory the most advanced? We only need to look at this "4+4" structure to see it clearly.
First of all, the navy, army, and air force are all owned by the major powers in the world, but the rocket force is only available in Russia, and it is an institutional mechanism inherited from the Soviet era. The United States does not have such a mechanism, and the United States is responsible for the strategic command of all strategic nuclear forces, including the US Navy's nuclear submarines and the Air Force's nuclear missiles. China's nuclear submarines belong to the navy, while the rocket force is mainly a land-based missile-launching unit that mainly carries out strategic deterrence against the enemy. At the level of the Rocket Force, we cannot yet say that our military mechanism and system are more advanced than those of the United States, because the strategic objectives of the two armies are different. However, when we look at the other four major classes, our advantage becomes apparent.
The military space force, the cyberspace force, the information support force, and the joint logistics support force -- these four major arms can reflect our superiority in terms of mechanism and structure.
Since the 80s of the 20 th century, the United States has undergone remarkable development and changes in its military space activities and organizational structure. The U.S. Air Force has established a dedicated Space Command and Space Operations Unit to protect U.S. space infrastructure, support military missions, enhance space intelligence gathering, and promote the development and application of space technology. In addition, the United States has also set up a special space command and a space warfare research center to further enhance its military capabilities and technological superiority in the space field. In 2018, the U.S. military formed the Space Force, which became independent from the Air Force. China is now independent of its military space forces, and in fact we have caught up with the United States in this area.
In terms of cyber forces, the United States established the cyber army and the cyber command earlier than us, but the cyber force of the United States is not yet an independent branch of the armed forces, and our military has now made the cyberspace forces independent as a branch of the armed forces. Similarly, our other two new arms, the Joint Logistics Support Force and the Information Support Force, do not have independent arms in the United States. This is where China is advanced.
Compared to China, the U.S. military now consists of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, U.S. Space Force, and National Guard. However, on the mainland, the China Coast Guard, which is similar to the U.S. Coast Guard, belongs to the People's Armed Police Force and is not part of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). As a result, China has more cyberspace troops, information support units, and joint logistics support units than the United States in terms of arms, and has fewer marines.
Our country's mechanism is that the main building of the military and the main battle in the theater is that we have more arms than the US military, and this obviously means that the building of our army will be better than that of the US military, and this is also where our military theory is more advanced than that of the US military.
Taking into account the accumulation of the US military over the past 100 years, such an adjustment may not be so obvious now, but if we look at it for another 10 years, we will gradually see the advantages of military capabilities brought about by the advantages of the system and mechanism. The Chinese military may only have an advantage in the Asia-Pacific region now, and in another 10 years, we will have an advantage in Africa and the Middle East, so let's wait and see.