Features

This material is produced by the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies
China
Arms Control/Nonproliferation Diplomacy  
Nuclear Policy
Nuclear Nonproliferation
Missile Nonproliferation
Other Arms Control/Nonproliferation
Reference
Index
Search
Glossaries

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) (Defunct)

中国航天科技集团公司

 NO. 9 Fuchenglu, Haidian District, Beijing China  100830
Tel: 8610-68370043, 8610-68370699
Fax: 8610-68370080
Website: http://www.cascgroup.com.cn/
 

(In July 1999, the China Aerospace Corporation was divided into two state-owned organizations: the China Aerospace Machinery and Electronics Corporation (CAMET) and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

PRESIDENT: Liu Jiyuan (also Administrator, China National Space Administration (CNSA), and President, Chinese Society of Astronautics)

VICE-PRESIDENTS: Wang Liheng, Luan Enjie, Bai Bai Er, Xia Guohong
 

CASC is headquartered in Beijing, has a total of about 103,000 employees, 30 percent of whom are technicians, engineers, and researchers; 40,000 are professors and senior engineers. It was first known as the No. 5 Research Academy of the Ministry of National Defense, established in 1956, and was subsequently called the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Building Industry. Most recently, it was known as the Ministry of Aerospace Industry (MASI) until CASC's establishment on 6 June 1993.

In March 1998, CASC underwent significant structural change following the reorganization policies adopted at the the National People's Congress. The administrative and regulatory functions of CASC have been separated from the former CASC and are now under the control of the new COSTIND. The new organization within COSTIND, called the State Aerospace Bureau, will oversee the administrative functions of China's aerospace industry. The goal of this reorganization was to make the new CASC into an "industrial enterprise group" exclusively engaged in R&D and production for China's aerospace industry.

The current scope of CASC activities is wide, and includes the research, design, development, production, testing, and evaluation of space launch vehicles (SLVs), strategic and tactical missiles, air defense missiles, cruise missiles, control systems, propulsion systems, liquid hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled rocket boosters, computers, inertial guidance systems, ground facilities, and satellites in China

Since the late 1980s, CASC has also been involved in the production of civilian goods at some of its factories as part of China's defense conversion effort. CASC's civilian products include satellite applications, automobiles, and computer applications.

CASC and some of its subsidiaries were sanctioned in August 1993 by the United States for their involvement in Chinese missile-related sales to Pakistan.

CASC's direct reporting elements include:

Overall, CASC has nine academies, six large and medium sized enterprise groups, 11 large and medium sized subordinate companies and four colleges. It also has more than 300 enterprises distributed throughout China, including Hong Kong. CASC is divided into five main parts:

1. The China Great Wall Industry Group. This organization functions as a conglomerate which controls the two international trade arms of CASC which are the China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) and the China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CPMEIC). The Head Director is Guo Guozheng and the Director is Zhang Xinxia, who is also the general manager of the CGWIC.

2. The China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC): CGWIC is one of the trade arms of the CASC and it markets a wide range of services and items which include satellite launch services, space technology and equipment, as well as some civilian products. The President of CGWIC is Zhang Xinxia and the Vice President is Liu Zhixiong.

3. China National Precision Machinery Import/Export Corporation (CPMIEC) is a subordinate entity under CASC and the CGWIC. It has mostly been involved in missile exports but it also exports precision instruments, machinery and transport equipment.

4. CASC oversees nine design academies:

5. Marketing, Production and Test Facilities:

6. Aerospace Bases

Other organizations related to CASC include:

[Sources: CASC informational brochures, 1998, 1999; Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, p. 380; Richard W. Fieldhouse, Chinese Nuclear Weapons, p. 6; Major Mark A. Stokes, China's Strategic Modernization: Implications for US National Security, October 1997, Appendix One; Yan Kong and Tim McCarthy, "China's Missile Bureaucracy," Jane's Intelligence Review, January 1993, p. 40;"China's Defense Industrial Trading Organizations," Defense Intelligence Reference Document; Risk Report, May 1995, p. 5, 6; "World Space Markets Survey, Ten Year Outlook," 1994 Edition; Air and Cosmos (Paris), 25 October 1996, in FBIS-CST-96-020, 25 October 1996. "China's International Defense-Industrial Organizations Organizational Chart" Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Reference Document DI-1921-60-98, 15 June 1998; "Overview of CASC and its Institutes," Beijing Zhongguo Hangtian in Chinese, 1 October 2002.]

Updated 11/26/2003

CNSThis material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by MIIS.

Get the factsGet informedGet involved