PLA Rocket Force
The service responsible for China's conventional and nuclear missile forces — the capability most often cited in assessments of the regional balance, and the subject of significant recent corruption investigations.
Broad area of activity
Chinese territory; ranges cover the theatre and beyond
Notable history
Elevated to a full service in the 2015 reforms from the former Second Artillery Corps, the Rocket Force holds China's land-based conventional and nuclear missile inventories. It is central to most published assessments of the regional military balance, and it was also the focus of the most prominent of the corruption investigations that removed senior PLA officers from 2023 onward — a publicly documented fact whose implications for the force's actual effectiveness are genuinely unknown.
Strengths
Large and diverse missile inventory across ranges; the capability that most directly complicates the operations of any outside power in the region.
Limitations
Untested in conflict; publicly reported corruption investigations reaching senior levels raise questions about readiness and procurement quality that outside analysts cannot resolve. Vigil describes this capability at broad category level only — no inventories, locations, ranges-to-target or employment concepts are published here.