More Muscle Power

Prasun K. Sengupta

The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Forces’ (PLARF) predecessor, the Second Artillery Corps (SAC), was officially formed in 1966, and by the end of the decade, it fielded roughly eight strategic missile Regiments, which were later upgraded to Brigades. Three more were added in the Seventies.

Beginning in the late Eighties, the SAC began fielding new short-and medium-range ballistic missile types, requiring the addition of new Brigades. Four new Brigades stood up between 1980 and 2001, three of which were equipped with these new missiles. The first decade of the 2000s saw faster growth: 11 new units stood up between 2001 and 2010, at least eight of which were equipped with the latest ballistic missiles, including the DF-31 (the PLARF’s first road-mobile ICBM), the CJ-10 (its first land-attack cruise missile), and the DF-16 tactical ballistic missile (TBM), as well as the improved DF-21C medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM). Similarly, when the DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) became available in late 2010, two of the next three Brigades were equipped with it.

The question arises, why build so quickly in recent years? A review of available information on China-origin news about the 11 new Brigades offers some hints as to the direction and reasons behind this expansion.

In 2015 the SAC was re-organised into the PLARF and it also became a full branch of China’s armed forces. This was immediately followed by a 30 per cent increase in the number of deployed Brigades, and it now comprises seven bases. Previously, these bases were numbered 51 through to 56, with Base 22 being the warhead storage and handling base. Brigades were numbered in the 800s. After 2015, the bases were re-numbered from 61 through to 67, with Base 67 being the new designation of Base 22. Brigades were also re-numbered to match their respective bases.

Each base presently supervises around six Brigades. Each Brigade is manned by thousands of personnel, with the missile transporter-erector-launchers (T