China has demobilized approximately 200,000 members of its military over the past three years, according to the People’s Liberation Army daily newspaper. The report also states that China has cut its personnel from 4.24 million to 3.24 million in 1987, and in 1997 downsized the military to 2.5 million to cut costs and focus on hardware improvements and high technologies. The country remains the world’s largest military, with 2.3 million members of the army, navy, and air force, according to Agence France Presse.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
