China opens military contracts worth billions of yuan to private companies
Tenders are part of drive to give private players greater role in defence contracting industry but lack of trust remains a problem, experts say
China’s military further opened its research and development programmes to private companies, inviting them to take part in projects worth an estimated 6 billion yuan (US$870 million or HK$6.78 billion), state media reported on Wednesday.
Analysts said the move was part of the government’s wider goal of creating a defence contract industry where private companies played a key role in supplying military technology that could also have civilian applications, similar to how Lockheed Martin and Boeing operated in the United States.
The contracting is overseen by the PLA’s arms procurement wing, the Equipment Development Department, which released information for more than 2,000 projects on its website, according to the PLA Daily.
Interested companies would have to put together a proposal that met the requirements listed on the website and submit it for evaluation, the report said.
Some 531 of the requirements involved classified information, and their inclusion could help set clearer standards for bids, the report quoted an unnamed officer as saying.
