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Second Artillery Corps

Commander                       Yang Guoliang
Deputy Commander                Li Qianming
                                Zou Yongzhao
Political Commissar             Sui Yongju
Deputy Political - Commissar    Cao Heqing
                                Wang Honghai

The Second Artillery Corps is believed to be organized into a headquarters in Qinghe near Beijing, an early warning division, a communication regiment, a security regiment, a technical support regiment, and six ballistic missile Divisions. The Second Artillery headquarters complex consists of headquarters, political, logistics, and equipment technology departments, each headed by a PLA major general.

The Second Artillery also has one engineering design academy and four research institutes to solve problems associated with operations, transporter erector launchers (TELs), and logistics (First Institute), command automation, targeting, and mapping (Third Institute), and missile and warhead engineering design. The Second Artillery’s Command College in Wuhan prepares officers for leadership positions within headquarters elements and launch brigades. The Engineering College in Xian educates technicians.

The Second Artillery, with an estimated 90,000 personnel [some estimates are as high as 120,000], most of which are in engineering and construction units. Actual missile operators and guards are probably less than half of the total strength. According to one estimate the missile troops number some 50,000 persons; the technical-equipped force about 17,000; the construction troops some 20,000; the anti-chemical and communication troops 50,000 for each; the training units: some 10,000 persons, and the logistic support troops some 20,000 persons. This total of some 217,000 is about twice as large as typically reported aggregate troop strengths, and may reflect the assignment of troops from other branches in support of the Second Artillery.

Each Brigade, commanded by a colonel, has up to four launch battalions (fashe ying). Missile brigades are generally structured by type of missiles, with each brigade having only has one type of missile, thus facilitating maintenance and specialization. There were at least 13 Brigades in the Second Artillery in the early 1990s, though by the end of the decade this number had increased to as many as 17 Brigades. This increase in force structure apparently reflected the deployment of additional DF-5 nuclear ICBMs, as well as the deployment of conventional M-9 and M-11 missiles aimed at Taiwan.

• 9 December 1957 -- Some 600 cadres and soldiers from various military units and scientific research institutes were formed into the first surface-to-surface guided missile Training Group.
• 1958 -- The "Special Artillery Corps" under the Central Military Commission [CMC]'s organizational system of the artillery was established
• June 1959 -- The CMC decided to dissolve the Training Group and establish two strategic guided missile combat battalions.
• 18 March 1960 - The first of the two planned battalions was established at an artillery school in a northwest China city.
• 1963 -- The CMC decided to establish a strategic guided missile operational launch base.
• August 1963 -- The CMC designated the Special Artillery Corps to conduct launch operations
• 3 October 1963 -- The Corps carried out its first launch
• June 1964 -- China successfully test-fired the Dongfeng-1 (DF-1) short-range missile
• 6 June 1966 -- The "Second Artillery Corps" was formed under the direction of Zhou Enlai, who was in charge of the preparatory work for its establishment, based on the merger of a former headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security and the CMC Special Artillery Corps.
• 1 July 1966 -- The headquarters of the Second Artillery Corps was officially established in Beijing.
• 1984 -- The Second Artillery Corps officially assumed alert duty
• 1 October 1984 -- In a ceremony in Beijing marking the 35th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the Second Artillery made its first public appearance in Tiananmen, with a display of strategic missiles.
• 1985 -- Collective command training simulation systems for missile Battalions and Brigades are developed to provide training to reduce missile launch timelines and improve operational readiness.
• August 1988 -- Chinese reports claim that over the previous five years the Second Artillery Corps' rate of success in live-fire launching of various types of missiles reached 96 percent.

Sources and Resources

• "Second Artillery Corps and M-Class Guided Missiles" by Ta Wen Hong Kong TA KUNG PAO, 9 Mar 96 p A1 [PRC: Article Introduces Second Artillery Corps, M-Class Missiles : FBIS-CHI-96-051 Document : 9 Mar 1996]
• "The Strong Contingent of Secret Rockets -- The Historical Course of Development of China's Strategic Guided Missile Units" by Zhang Jiajun and Zao Zhi, Beijing XINHUA 7 Jul 1996 [ PRC: Article on Guided Missile Units' Development : FBIS-CHI-96-135 : 7 Jul 1996]
• "The Casting of China's Shield of Peace -- A Record of Actual Events in the Development of the Second Artillery Corps" Beijing XINHUA Domestic Service, 1007 GMT 7 Jul 96 [Development of Second Artillery Corps : FBIS-CHI-96-137 : 7 Jul 1996 ]
• CHINA'S STRATEGIC MODERNIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES Mark A. Stokes [U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute] -- September 1999

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