People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department
People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department (GAD; Chinese: 中国人民解放军总装备部) was founded in April 1998 and is in charge of equipping and arming the People's Liberation Army, as well as overseeing and improving military technology. It is one of the four "general departments" that fall under the Central Military Commission. Various space launch sites across the country also fall under its jurisdiction.
The department was disbanded in January 2016 and the new agency, Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission was founded.[1]
Structure
Director
- General Zhang Youxia (since October 2012)[2]
Deputy Directors
- Lt. General Liu Guozhi (Since December 2010)
- Lt. General Zhang Yulin (Since 2011)
- Lt. General Niu Hongguang (Since July 2009)
- Lt. General Liu Sheng (Since May 2012)
- Lt. General Wang Li
Political Commissar
- General Wang Hongyao (since July 2011)
Deputy Political Commissar
- Lt. General Chai Shaoliang (December 2014)
Discipline Inspection Department
Directly Subordinated Organs Work Department
- Liaison Department
- Organization Department
- Propaganda Department
- Security Department
Human spaceflight
The human spaceflight effort of the PRC used to be conducted by the China Manned Space Engineering Office, which was a special department within the General Armaments Department.[3]
References
- ^ "国防部新闻事务局官微发布中央军委机关英文译名". People's Daily Online. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
- ^ http://www.giga-hamburg.de/dl/download.php?d=/content/ias/archiv/cds/cds_0907.pdf, p. 23.
- ^ "Is the Chinese manned space program a military program?". The Space Review. March 30, 2009.