A military unit cover designator (MUCD, , ) is a unique five-digit number used by the
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
to externally identify military units. MUCDs are used externally to protect the identity of units, while a true unit designator (TUD, ) is used internally as they plainly identify the unit and its function.
An example, a bomber aircraft regiment in the
People's Liberation Army Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...
(PLAAF)
8th Air Division may be known by its TUD, '22nd Air Regiment', or by its MUCD, 'Unit 95183'. The unit's TUD is used by members of the regiment, in common discourse, and among defense analysts, while the MUCD is used on stationery letterheads, newspapers, banners, magazine articles, and signs at the entrance to military facilities.
Some units, namely those conducting sensitive and secretive operations like those of the Third Department (Operations) of the Joint Staff Department, may only be known by their MUCD as their TUD has not been discovered. Popular examples include
Unit 61398 and
Unit 61486.
History
First seeing use in the early 1950s, the MUCD system has been changed at least five times since the early 1950s with the most recent change in 2016.
Begun shortly after the 1949 communist victory in the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
, MUCDs were originally four-digit numbers until 1975 when, as part of Deng Xiaoping's counter-Maoist military reforms, the five-digit system presently used was introduced.
Changing under further military reforms in 1987, the PLA saw the reconsolidation of eleven
military regions down to seven. MUCD's changed again in 2000 and once more in 2016 following the
massive reorganization of the PLA under
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
that included the transition from military regions to
theater commands, the Second Artillery Corps to the
People's Liberation Army Rocket Force
The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, formerly the Second Artillery Corps, is the strategic missile, strategic and tactical missile force of the People's Republic of China. The PLARF is the 4th military branch, branch of the People's Li ...
(PLARF), and the establishment of the
Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) which incorporated various functional units of the General Staff Department (which became the
Joint Staff Department).
Blocks
While blocks of MUCDs are apportioned to commands, those commands decide how MUCDs are internally assigned without regulation from the Central Military Commission leading to variance in numbering patterns below the command.
See also
{{Portal, China
*
Unit Identification Code
The Unit Identification Code (UIC) is a six character alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each United States Department of Defense entity. The UIC is often used on various paperwork to assign a soldier to a specific company in which they fal ...
(UIC), United States
*
Military Unit Number
A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...
,
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and
post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...
*
Tsūshōgō
were unit code names used by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II.
Each ''tsūshōgō'' consisted of a and a . Unit Character Codes typically consisted of one character, although some units established in the late stages of the ...
,
Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
References
People's Liberation Army