China Opens 108 Defence Products to Private Sector Participation

The monopoly of state-owned defense contractors is fading further into memory, as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has opened its tender process to private sector players.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Headquarters has released 108 defense items open for public tender and for private players to take part in product-related research, development and production, the PLA daily reported on Tuesday.

The 108 items open for bidding included medical dummies used by army doctors and early warning fighter and aircraft carrier simulators, as well as cutting-edge technology including big-data processing and cloud computing.

At a military exhibition in Beijing last week, 75 percent of the 347 items on display had been developed by civilian enterprises. One-hundred-and-seventeen defense industry companies and civilian enterprises have since submitted proposals related to 106 of the items on the bidding list.

Many private companies have proven expertise in cloud computing and big data processing, and civil-military integration will advance the military, Senior Colonel Zhang Junshe, who works for the PLA Navy, told the Beijing Youth Daily.