The Strategic Support Force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a new military service established on December 31, 2015 by the PLA. The Strategic Support Force was "formed after the functional integration of various types of support forces that are strategic, basic and supportive".

The mission tasks of the Strategic Support Force include: detection, reconnaissance and return of target information to the target; undertaking daily navigation operations, as well as the management of Beidou satellites and space reconnaissance means; undertaking the defense of electromagnetic space and cyberspace tasks; it is a new type of combat force to safeguard the security of the country, and it is an important point of growth in the new qualitative combat capability of our army.

The establishment of the Strategic Support Force is conducive to optimizing the structure of military forces and improving comprehensive security capabilities.

The strategic support force includes five major fields, including intelligence reconnaissance, satellite management, electronic countermeasures, network attack and defense, and psychological warfare, and it is the combat force on the invisible battlefield of the most advanced "heavenly army" and "net army" in this era. To be more precise, it is a combat force specializing in the mission of soft kill.

1, intelligence reconnaissance. Through reconnaissance satellites, reconnaissance aircraft, drones, sensors and other modern equipment to obtain enemy radio signals, electromagnetic signals, infrared signals, etc., through the collection and analysis of these signals in order to obtain local intelligence.

2, satellite management. Satellite management is the so-called "sky army", which is with the rapid development of space technology, especially satellite information reconnaissance, tracking and surveillance, guidance and navigation and space weapons, the emergence of a new type of troops.

3, electronic countermeasures. The hostile parties use electronic technology for combat operations, the purpose is to weaken, destroy the enemy electronic equipment, in order to protect the effectiveness of their own electronic equipment to be given full play, including radar countermeasures, communications countermeasures, photoelectricity countermeasures, the basic content of electronic countermeasures reconnaissance, electronic interference and electronic defense, electronic countermeasures is an important means of modern warfare.

4, network attack and defense. network attack and defense, also known as network warfare, is the use of network loopholes and security flaws exist in the network system hardware, software and data in its system to attack and destroy. Cyberspace security not only directly affects the effect of firepower destruction and force confrontation, and may even decide the battlefield without bloodshed.

Particularly in the confrontation between powerful countries, the loss of the "right to control the network" will lose the "right to control information", basically also lost the war. The "right to control the network" and information superiority will fundamentally change the rules of war, and then change the mechanism of winning the war.

5, psychological warfare. Psychological warfare is through the use of the principles of psychology, the principle of the human psyche as a battlefield, the systematic use of a variety of means, including modern life can not be separated from the network, television, radio and other means of communication, the human cognition, emotion and will to exert an influence.

Spiritually dismantling the fighting spirit of the enemy's military and civilians or eliminating the impact of enemy propaganda caused by the confrontational activities, thereby striking the enemy's mind, to minimize the cost in exchange for the maximum victory and benefits.

The Strategic Support Force is a young and mysterious branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which shoulders the special mission of "out of sight, out of mind". Because the operational strategic support forces of the various functions of the task by the various branches of the military to complete, so the strategic support forces do not have an independent flag and uniforms, but has its own independent armband and breastplate.

There are two institutions of the Strategic Support Forces I***, namely:

Strategic Support Forces Aerospace Engineering University (Beijing)

Strategic Support Forces Information Engineering University (Zhengzhou)

These two institutions are open to enrollment of local high school graduates.