The hi-tech SSF branch, which integrates “strategic functions” across the entire PLA and relies heavily on civilian innovation support such as AI development, is playing an increasingly critical role in the military’s preparations for future “intelligence warfare”, analysts said.

However, the branch’s heavy reliance on high tech could also make it more vulnerable to US restrictions, they said.

Space, cyber and Taiwan

Created in 2015, the SSF oversees two departments: a “space force” and a “cyber force”.

The space force – known as the Space Systems Department – operates several satellite launch centres as well as training bases across China. It manages communication and intelligence satellites, which provide space-based reconnaissance, and uses the BeiDou satellite navigation system to help with military operations.

Much like the US Cyber Command, China’s cyber force – known as the Network Systems Department – is responsible for defending and attacking computer networks, electromagnetic defence and offence, and collecting intelligence by intercepting signals.

“Seeing how Russia has struggled with joint operations and combined arms in Ukraine, the impetus for China to figure out joint operations in peacetime is really important,” Bresnick said.

According to publicly available information, the SSF in recent years has provided electromagnetic and cybersecurity training, as well as joint operations with other forces.

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The coordinated training efforts, including a simulated “joint blockade” of the island, enhanced the “integrated and joint operational” capabilities of the PLA, state news agency Xinhua said at the time.

In February, the SSF reportedly held training exercises using countermeasures in response to simulated drone attacks and network penetration by “enemies”, according to a report by military mouthpiece PLA Daily, which provided few other details.

The force has also previously conducted exercises involving “electromagnetic confrontation”, for instance when a ground force unit under the Central Theatre Command took part in a drill which the report described as breaking the “barriers” of different military branches.

Beijing denies it carries out such cyber espionage activities and has labelled the US “the hacker empire”.

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Another Pentagon report stated that as of March 2022, China’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) satellite fleet contained more than 290 systems, second in quantity only to the US.

Most of those ISR systems could help to monitor, track and target US and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific region, the report said.

The SSF is also an umbrella for Base 311, a centre headquartered in Fujian province, which is primarily responsible for psychological warfare in Taiwan-related operations.

The heart of the PLA’s modernisation

According to experts, the SSF is at the heart of China’s military integration and modernisation plans.

“The Strategic Support Force provides intelligence and information support to other services as it controls reconnaissance, communications and other strategic measures and systems, and could also offer electronic support in operations,” said Fu Qianshao, a military analyst and former PLA officer.

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The information gathered from space, air and land-based assets is then sent to joint command and control operations for final decisions on actions or responses. This “dominance of information” can be the critical difference on a battlefield, as the war in Ukraine has shown, Fu said.

Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese naval academy in Kaohsiung, said the SSF’s surveillance role enables target detection and precise strikes.

“With its spy satellites, the PLA can know the situation in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. It could clearly monitor [the locations of ] US aircraft carriers and its strike groups in the regions, which is the responsibility of the SSF,” Lu said.

The SSF is “definitely more experienced and competent” than it was in 2016, according to James Char, a research fellow from Nanyang Technological University.

The SSF, which reports directly to the CMC, the military’s top decision-making body, is headed by General Ju Qiansheng, who has been commander of the force since 2021.

Char added that Xi, who is also chairman of the CMC, “wants his troops to gradually pivot from full mechanisation to having the ability to conduct modern ‘informatised’ operations, before engaging in ‘intelligentised’ warfare in the future”.

“Operations showed in most recent regional wars” that “intelligent and unmanned” equipment had proved to be decisive in winning conflicts, the PLA Daily said in a recent article, without explicitly naming the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

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High tech and US curbs

The SSF heavily relies on hi-tech talent recruitment, cooperation with academic institutions, and the country’s private sector as part of its military-civil fusion strategy.

More than 80 per cent of the technologies used in China’s military come from civilian sectors, according to Yue Gang, a retired PLA colonel.

The SSF serves as an “important” force to integrate emerging technologies and will be key to winning future wars, Yue said, adding that SSF has a higher “degree of informatisation” than other military branches, making it a “pioneer” in transforming the PLA into an information-based military.

“Its role and status are becoming more important”, Yue said.

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Taiwan simulates attack from mainland China as island’s military conscripts begin extended service

Taiwan simulates attack from mainland China as island’s military conscripts begin extended service

According to the PLA’s weapon procurement website, the SSF has sought to buy various types of hi-tech equipment, including AI models to collect specific patterns using a collection of data sets, chipmaking and testing services, and “honeypot” software to be used as decoys in cybersecurity.

The SSF accounts for more AI-related equipment contracts than any other PLA branch, according to a 2021 report by the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University in the US.

In its March recruitment advertisement, the SSF said it was looking to fill some 500 positions with talent from top-tier universities with majors in computer science, artificial intelligence and big data, and aerospace technologies.

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Fu said that China would “scale” the military use of AI in the SSF and its other forces, as the advancement of weapons progresses.

“It might not work if China uses only state-owned companies and departments, so it must rely on the strengths of the private companies … to improve quality, reduce costs and save time,” Fu said.

“The problem now is [the US] has cut off China’s access [to these technologies], in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, they know exactly where your weak spot is,” said Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military analyst.

The strained relations between China and the Western countries and their restrictions on hi-tech “has definitely impacted the weapons and equipment,” Ni said.