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Phoebe Zhang

A new university under the Chinese military’s mysterious Information Support Force plans to offer training in artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned operations and other key technology, according to its first public enrolment notice.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Information Support Force Engineering University in the central city of Wuhan will offer 10 undergraduate majors in information and intelligent technology, according to a Thursday report by state broadcaster CCTV.
It added that students who have taken the college entrance exam and passed political evaluations may apply this month.
According to the report, the school will also offer more traditional disciplines such as communication engineering, allowing students to study electromagnetic fields and wave propagation, satellite communication and 6G technology to cultivate commanding officers who can understand, operate and design communication systems.
A new data link engineering major, designed for “informationised, intelligent, and unmanned operations in modern warfare”, will teach students about signals and systems, information fusion and processing, and data link technology. This technology is used on missiles, warships, fighter jets and early warning aircraft systems, according to CCTV.
Other majors include big data, command and information systems engineering, software engineering, and intelligent vision engineering, which focuses on pattern and intelligent target recognition on the battlefield.


The university is one of three established last month as part of a reorganisation amid the PLA’s modernisation push.
The PLA Information Support Force Engineering University was formed by combining the Information Communication Institute of the National University of Defence Technology and the Officer’s Academy of Army Engineering University.
The other two universities formed in the reorganisation are the PLA Ground Force Service Academy in Hefei, Anhui province, and the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force Engineering University in Chongqing, according to the defence ministry.
Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said the reorganisation was meant to “adapt to the needs of restructuring military services and military talent training”.
He added that these new institutions aimed to directly recruit high school graduates and train them for the PLA’s new service branches.
The Information Support Force, created in April of last year, has taken over some of the functions of the Strategic Support Force, which was established in 2015 to expand the PLA’s cyber, space, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities.
Little has been revealed about the new service branch, but President Xi Jinping said it would play a “crucial” role and was a “key pillar in coordinating the construction and application of the network information system”.
He ordered the force to “effectively support combat operations”, integrate information resources, strengthen information protection, “integrate deeply” into the military’s joint operation system and carry out information support in a “precise and effective manner”.
He had previously ordered the PLA to prepare for information-focused warfare.
The PLA has a set target of 2027 – the year of its centenary – to achieve its modernisation goals, paving the way for it to become a “world class” military power by 2049.


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The institution is one of three formed last month to train talent for Chinese military’s new service branches


The institution is one of three formed last month to train talent for Chinese military’s new service branches.


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New university under mysterious PLA force to offer training in AI, unmanned operations

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The institution is one of three formed last month to train talent for Chinese military’s new service branches

The institution is one of three formed last month to train talent for Chinese military’s new service branches