The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF; Chinese: 中国人民解放军战略支援部队) is the space, cyber, and electronic warfare force and the 5th branch of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). It was established in December 2015 as part of the first wave of the Chinese military reforms.
Founded on 31 December 2015 as part of the first wave of reforms of the PLA, the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force or PLASSF was established as the newest and latest branch of the PLA. Personnel numbers are estimated at 175,000. Initial announcements regarding the Strategic Support Force did not provide much detail, but Yang Yujun of the Chinese Ministry of Defense described it as an integration of all current combat support forces including but limited to space, cyber, electronic and intelligence branches. Additionally, commentators have speculated that the new service branch will include high-tech operations forces such as space, cyberspace and electronic warfare operations units, independent of other branches of the military.
With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized conflicts" (Chinese: 信息化战争; pinyin: xìnxīhuà zhànzhēng) and enhance the PLA's power projection capabilities in space and cyberspace, the SSF is a new force designed to allegedly break stovepipes in the intelligence sharing and coordination departments of the different branches.