Second Artillery Corps (China)
The Second Artillery Corps (SAC) (simplified Chinese: 第二炮兵部队; traditional Chinese: 第二砲兵部隊; pinyin: Dì èr pàobīng bùduì) is the strategic missile forces of the People's Republic of China. The SAC is the component of the People's Liberation Army that controls China's nuclear ballistic and conventional missiles. China's total nuclear arsenal size is estimated to range between 240 nuclear weapons to as many as 3,000 warheads hidden within an extensive tunnel system referred to as an "underground great wall", while retired Russian General Viktor Yesin estimates that China has 1,800 warheads, with 900 of them being deployed and the rest in reserve. The SAC comprises approximately 90,000-120,000 personnel and six ballistic missile brigades. The six brigades are independently deployed in different military regions throughout the country.
The Second Artillery Corps was established on 1 July 1966 and made its first public appearance on 1 October 1984. The headquarters for operations is located at Qinghe, Beijing. Second Artillery Corps is under the direct command of the Chinese Central Military Commission.
Read more about Second Artillery Corps (China): History, Missile Ranges
Famous quotes containing the words artillery and/or corps:
“Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentiment in mankind; so that the power of a wafer or a drop of wax or gluten to guard a letter, as it flies over sea over land and comes to its address as if a battalion of artillery brought it, I look upon as a fine meter of civilization.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire. This agglomeration which called itself and still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)