Feng advocated for self-reliance, once saying ‘core technologies cannot be bought and relying on imports will not get us far’
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAmber Wangin BeijingPublished: 12:00pm, 15 Apr 2026Major General Feng Yufang, a leading missile scientist with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force, died on Monday at the age of 63, according to state media and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).The official CAE website confirmed that Feng, one of its academicians, died on April 13. Although it did not give a cause of death, an article by state media outlet China Daily on Tuesday stated that he died of illness.
With a career spanning nearly 40 years in military equipment research, Feng made “significant contributions” to developing both nuclear and conventional missile systems for the PLA Rocket Force, according to the CAE website.
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Generals stripped of political advisory roles as China’s corruption clean-up continuesFeng, who was born in January 1963 in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, graduated in 1987 from the National University of Defence Technology, where he specialised in nuclear radiation and protective measures.
Upon graduation, he was assigned to a research institute under the PLA Second Artillery Corps, the predecessor to the rocket force.
Feng rose through the ranks to become a senior engineer at the Rocket Force Research Institute, and was promoted to major general in 2006.
He specialised in the technologies and tactics associated with nuclear and conventional warheads for surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
