People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department ( GAD ; Chinese : 中国人民解放军总装备部 ) was in charge of equipping and arming the People's Liberation Army of China , as well as overseeing and improving military technology. Founded in April 1998, it was one of the four "general departments" that fell under the Central Military Commission . Various space launch sites across the country also fell under its jurisdiction.
7-722: The department was disbanded in January 2016 and the new agency, Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission was founded. Director Deputy Directors Political Commissar Deputy Political Commissar Discipline Inspection Department Directly Subordinated Organs Work Department The human spaceflight effort of the PRC used to be conducted by the China Manned Space Engineering Office , which
14-727: A lieutenant general) in September 2018 under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act . The establishment of the Department for Weapons Development as part of the 2015 reforms did bring a significant change in the procurement process. Tenders became then open to the public through a website operated by the department, the “All-PLA Arms and Equipment Purchase Information Network” (全军武器装备采购信息). Formally, not only state-owned companies, but also private companies can submit bids. This opening to market competition has
21-491: Is to coordinate, oversee, and foster the development and acquisition of military technology. General Zhang Youxia served as the first director. The current director is Xu Xueqiang . It also registers the patents related to military technology. The China Manned Space Agency is also hosted there and the department plays a critical role in the Chinese space program . The Equipment Development Department has responsibility for
28-430: The dual goal of improving quality and reducing prices on the one hand, and on the other, to further the goal of "military-civilian integration" (军民融合). This entails that as much dual-use technology as possible should be developed, such as carbon fiber materials , information security in cloud computing , hybrid drives and renewable energies . In order to facilitate this integration, efforts are being made to unify
35-588: The procurement of a very wide range of military equipment: from 10 mm Beanbag rounds for riot control to mobile laser communication systems, up to Su-35 fighter aircraft and S-400 Anti-aircraft missiles . The latter systems were acquired from Russia in the late 2010's, after which the United States Department of State imposed sanctions on the Equipment Development Department and its head Li Shangfu (then
42-697: The standards for software and information sharing in the military and civilian sectors. A reduction on the extreme opaqueness of the old procurement process was also started. As a first practical step, the Office for Intellectual Property in National Defense lifted the secrecy of 2,346 patents relevant to defense technology in March 2017 and published them on the procurement portal of the Weapons Development Department. In April 2018,
49-812: Was a special department within the General Armaments Department. Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission The Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission ( Chinese : 中央军委装备发展部 ) is a major unit of deputy theater grade under the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China . It was founded on January 11, 2016, under Xi Jinping 's military reforms. The department mission
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