China Analysis: Logistics of Ammunition

In combat, soldiers can survive some amount of time without food, water, or medicine, but they cannot live one minute without ammunition. The world’s first and second economies have two very different doctrines when it comes to governing and conflict may be inevitable. This article reviews open-source information on China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative,' civil-military integration of ammunition production, and Joint Logistics Support Force ammunition storage. The integrated logistical system of ammunition supports China’s forces through their supply system to the various fronts and parallels or may even surpass that of the United States.   

Introduction

The ability to fight wars at the national level depends on the resourcing, manufacturing, and transportation of ammunition through the strategic supply system, from arsenal to the warfighter. As the United States military shifts its focus from counter-insurgency and the global war on terrorism to large-scale combat operations. Peer threats such as the People's Republic of China (PRC), known as China, bring the nation to the forefront as an adversary in combat operations. China’s ruling party is the Chinese Communist Party and is the world’s biggest exporter with the second-largest economy.¹ The ability to project and sustain military forces in Eurasia will be a critical component of any conflict between the United States and China.² China is now rivaling the United States economically.

China Infrastructure

China has shipped $2.494 trillion worth of goods around the globe in 2018, which reflects a 6.5% gain since 2014 and a 10.2% increase from 2017 to 2018.³  China has many of the world’s busiest air and sea-ports that move freight and passengers to make China the lead exporter. With a railway of 121,000 km, a High-speed rail of 23,600 km, the road network of 4,500,000 km, expressway of 131,000 km, 235 civil airports, and 76 international airports, and with seven of the world's top 10 ports by cargo volume.⁴ China has the internal infrastructure to move goods out of the country from their vast 3,700,000 square miles of land. While China is a leader in the global economy, there is no shortfall of ambition in the communist party to progress beyond number two in the world economy.

China ‘Belt and Road Initiative' (BRI)

China has made great efforts to surpass the United States and become the economic world leader leveraging its economic resources to implement the communist party's vision of the future. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced plans to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, which aims at enhancing infrastructure connectivity and boosting trade and investment of Eurasian from China’s west through Central Asia to Europe. ⁵ In figure 1, China’s BRI increases the country’s reach with many national partners in the form of direct foreign investment (DFI) of roads, bridges, rail, and ports. The BRI can move finished and unfished goods from China to anywhere in Europe. China has also targeted investment to the continent of Africa and South America, expanding China's influence and customer base. The international community has also raised concerns over the lending practices of China of infrastructure to developing countries for the BRI. China tends to negotiate for ownership with decades-long leases from host nations when those countries cannot pay for the improvement project.

Figure 1. Map of the Belt and Road Initiative.

While China’s BRI is an economic initiative, it can project military power easily were needed for Chinese military operations in the disputed territory. China’s military stance has increased tensions throughout the Indo-Pacific area of operations. Including the Senkaku Islands of the East China Sea with Japan, the Parcel/Spratly Islands of the South China Sea with Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, border standoffs in the Arunachal Pradesh with India, and the security relations in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China.⁶ All of these conflicts have put China in direct opposition to NATO, US allies in the region, and the United States.     

Civil-Military Integration

The United States has been able to have economic growth since World War II and become the World Power. The Department of Defense (DOD), with the largest budget remains the prime benefactor having an ever-increasing military budget that allows for the development of the military-industrial complex (MIC). The co-dependency of the military and military contractors such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin; allows the US to create weapon systems and platforms, along with ammunition, bombs, and missile systems. The MIC created on a democratic system with companies that create products to make their shareholders profit. On the contrary, that is why DoD has its organic industrial complex to manufacture munitions that would not be profitable for an enterprise. During times of combat operations, the military-industrial complex would increase production and DoD would have its capability to produce in times of build-up to war but before the full conflict would be needed. 

China led by Xi Jinping has been able to create its civil-military integration but unlike the United States, the communist party has a very different view of the expectations of civilian enterprises. The Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development’s aim is to cut costs and integrate existing civilian technologies and services into the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).⁷ The PLA is the key driver of requirements and state-owned enterprises (SOE) are the sole manufacturer of munitions and weapon systems in China. The state-controlled munitions production is led by one of its SOEs, without much open-source information on the inner workings of the factories.       

China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO)

The NORINCO Group is a state-owned enterprise incorporated in China and under the control of the State Council, which is actively engaged in the manufacturing of military and civilian products and has developed a global trade and information network.⁸ NORINCO group is the ordnance arm with over 300 sub-elements including factories (157 medium to large factories), research institutes, and trading companies.⁹ The producers of ammunition can be divided into Arsenals, providing ammunition to military forces and Manufactures, providing ammunition for exporting to the civilian market. State factories can be identified only by the headstamps, the markings on cartridge casing, such as 11, 121, and 947.¹⁰ Manufactures can be identified with head markings of letters such as CJ, CN, and NRC.¹¹ Regardless of what product is made, all aspects of munitions production are controlled by the State Council through SOE. The communist party runs the logistical aspects of munitions production. During times of escalation China can easily create and send a stockpile of munitions to the front line troops or their allies.

In some cases, China would hide the identity of their support by changing the headstamp, for example, using LC52, which LC stands for Lake City a United States production arsenal.¹² As mentioned, ammunition production in China is wholly state-owned and would be the approving authority for any clandestine support to other nations. This type of authority and initiative from the State Council also reflects in the position that they want to see when it comes to ammunition production levels. China has been diligently working on upgrading ammunition facilitates and to increase productivity. China has embarked on an ambitious modernization effort, along with a quarter of the country’s munition factories replacing workers with automation.¹³ The designed modernization is to protect the interest and influence of China around the globe that will need a streamlined ammunition supply chain.¹⁴ China’s ability to control all sectors of ammunition production, civilian and military, will be pivotal to possible conflict with the United States.         

People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-Joint Logistic Support Force

The Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China commands its military. The military includes the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, Strategic Support Force, and Joint Logistic Support Force. Reforms announced in November 2013 established five Theater Joint Commands responsible for warfighting functions, replacing seven ground force military regions.¹⁵ The reforms allowed the CMC greater control of the military by flatting out the organizational structure and taking more control from military leaders into civilian leadership of the communist party.

The Joint Logistic Support Force, created in 2016, consists of Wuhan Joint Logistics Support Base and five logistics support centers that support the theater commands, as seen in figure 2.¹⁶

The Wuhan base and five centers are supported by multiple units and contain ammunition depots, warehouses, fuel depots, hospitals and underground facilities over a large region.¹⁷ The ability for CMC to streamline logistics directly to support centers offers China the ability to implement policy throughout the entire supply system quickly. The most comparable command to the US military would be United States Transportation Command, which is a unified command, with the ability to implement transportation changes throughout the entire system. 

Figure 2. Chinese Military Logistics and Support Units.

Storage at the national level for China is very elusive as open-source information does not show inner workings of either production facilities or that of storage facilities. Reports from the 1960s show that facilities such as; Chin-Hsien Ammunition Depot, Lo-Yuan Ammunition Depot, Nan-Ning Ammunition Depot, Kun-Ming Ammunition, and Supply Depot, Heng-Yang Ammunition, and Peiping Arsenal Complex had an extensive storage and production capabilities.¹⁸ These cities have been renamed, and imagery from Google Earth shows heavily populated cities and urban areas in place of where these locations were. The urban areas do not mean a reduction in ammunition production and storage; on the contrary, these types of activities are more of a state secret. For example, the naming convention of production facilities as ‘state factory.’ With only a number to distinguish between each factory. China has developed the technology to conceal and protect their operations.

The most extensive is the use of underground facilities for warfighting, which enhances China’s military capacity, the PLA maintains a technologically advanced underground facility (UGF) program.¹⁹ China determined in the 1980s that the UGF program was needed and modernization effort had a renewed urgency after China observed U.S. and coalition air operations during Operation Desert Storm and in the Balkans in 1999.²⁰ While the United States has been in continuous conflict, the communist party has been actively studying the tactics of its primary rival. In response, China has been creating underground structures since the 1980s for intercontinental ballistic missiles storage complexes known as the ‘Underground Great Wall,’ and the threat of military conflict is the reason for increasing capacity.²¹ While the storage in figure 3 is for missile storage, storage of bulk munitions can also be stored using the same system at the national level. China can also use underground storage in the forward storage areas for the PLA.

Figure 3. Missile Tunnel Complex areas.

Forward Support Bases/Outposts

China has continued tensions on many fronts, and fiercely protects any land they perceive as their national territory. Contested areas or regions considered autonomous receive a heavy presence from Chinse PLA forces and a buildup of military infrastructure. On land, in occupied Tibet near the province of U-Tsang, the People’s Liberation Army has constructed a second underground facility 50 km from the India-China border, and just 60 km from the Indian forward posts. China has been building up this facility, from 2016 for the PLA stationed in the area.²² China’s first underground facility for an ammunition storage facility and the headquarters of the PLA’s Tibet Military District has been built up since 2004, as seen in Figure 4.²³ Since, 1998 military units started moving in Lhoka, when the area had received a yearly increase in military infrastructure and accommodated units and headquarters of an artillery brigade.²⁴ The tension between India-China over the border near Tibet can quickly escalate and China is ready for conflict by moving supplies and equipment. Also, to support these areas, China has an extensive internal road network to get to and from logistical support bases and centers. Along with infrastructure to support the movement, more importantly, they have in place protective measures for munitions to be able to engage and win.

Figure 4. Underground Ammunition Point at Lhoka, China.

On the sea, the defense and even more the expansion of China is just as determined. With infrastructure created from island reefs and a protective Navy near the Parcel/Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. Escalation of tensions can quickly turn into a confrontation at sea. Both the United States and China conduct freedom of movement on international waters near each others’ borders, testing the limits of each others’ sovereignty. In the South China Sea, China has a vast array of structures ranging from underground ammunition storage areas and administrative buildings to large radar and sensor arrays.²⁵ On a total of 72 acres of built-up infrastructure on Fiery Cross, Subi, and Mischief Reefs in the Spratlys, and North, Tree, and Triton Islands in the Paracels.²⁶ Highlighted in yellow in Figure 5 is an example of underground storage for ammunition. These dual-use outposts provide a buffer to China and an added resource to exploit. Increasing capacity on the island reefs offers the PLA stationed there the ability to have a defensive position.  

Figure 5. Fiery Cross Reef Infrastructure Completed 2017.

In the ‘Belt and Road Initiative,’ China has made a strong logistical system that it holds as imperative to the future of the Communist Party of China. There is heavy protection in the networks of the BRI. For example, on the Maritime route in Djibouti, China has a base shown in Figure 6. China and Djibouti negotiated a 50-year lease for what is called a logistical support base on 200 acres of land that can hold a brigade-size element.²⁷ The complex is about a mile from an American base in the same country, where the United States protects its interests. This proximity can easily turn into escalation and China's move into the area has been seen as an ever-expanding of China's military might.

While China’s bases are considered just a logistics base, it has a hardened underground ammunition point with modern automated entry gates, loading/unloading platform, and three main storages with a shelter for motor transport.²⁸ 

The protection of both the maritime and road routes is essential to China’s military and economic future posture on the global stage. 

Figure 6. China's Djibouti Base Overview.

Conclusion

The People’s Republic of China has an extensive ammunition supply system and storage capability that flows from production to forward outposts. Using those supply routes will be the same lines of communication when it comes to large-scale combat operations with peer nations. China has put in place a land and sea network that rivals that of the United States. While the United States remains, its economic partner tensions can easily escalate to battles with unfortunate consequences. They can be in the form of sea engagements in the South China Sea or with proxy countries. China has been developing its system and refining how ammunition would flow from each level of storage to the military arm of the Communist Party of China. All the while China has been emphasizing joint logistics and civil-military integration that rivals or even surpasses the United States. Ultimately, ammunition will decide how a war with the first and second economic powers of the world will end up. 

End Notes:

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