The People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force: Leadership and Structure

By: Rachael Burton and Mark Stokes |

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) is one of the most significant components of the People’s Republic of China’s (China, PRC) ongoing military reform and reorganization. Based on limited sources available, the PLASSF appears intended to integrate the launch, tracking, and control of satellites with the operational units that apply the services that the satellites provide, such as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. This paper aims to provide an overview of the Strategic Support Force’s role within the PLA, its leadership structure, and the biographies of its core decision makers. In addition, it examines how the PLASSF’s presumed ability to provide “cross-domain fusion” helps to augment synergies among PLA assets, which could enhance the PLA’s capacity to further project power in the Indo-Pacific region.