NPU builds upon the legacies of its three major predecessors.
Predecessors Northwestern Engineering Institute In 1938, due to the
Japanese invasion of China, many universities in the occupied east evacuated to "Free China" in the western hinterland. Among those that fled to
Shaanxi, the
National Beiyang Engineering Institute, the Engineering School of Beiping University, the Engineering School of the
National Northeastern University, and the (private) Jiaozuo Engineering Institute were combined to form the
National Northwestern Engineering Institute in
Hanzhong, a city surrounded by mountains. In 1946, after the
surrender of Japan, Northwestern Engineering Institute was relocated to the city of
Xianyang.
East China Aeronautics Institute In 1952, to meet the demand for concentrated aeronautics research, the departments of aeronautical engineering of the former
National Central University (later known as
Nanjing University),
Jiaotong University and
Zhejiang University were relocated to
Nanjing and combined to form the
East China Aeronautics Institute. This institute was relocated to Xi'an and renamed the
Xi'an Aeronautics Institute, which is the second predecessor of the NPU, in 1956. In 1957, the
Northwestern Engineering Institute and the
Xi'an Aeronautics Institute were merged to form NPU, which concentrated its research efforts on defense technology for aeronautics, astronautics and marine engineering.
People's Liberation Army Military Engineering Institute In 1970, due to deteriorating relations with the former
USSR, the
People's Liberation Army Military Engineering Institute, which was located in
Harbin, was disassembled. Many of its departments were relocated from the city near the China-Soviet border; among these, its Department of Aeronautical Engineering (the third predecessor of NPU) was moved to Xi'an and merged with the other two predecessors to form NPU.
Recent history NWPU is subjected to
sanctions by the United States and Taiwan for its ties to the
PLA. In 2022, Chinese government agencies and private security firms attributed a cyberattack against NWPU to the
NSA. ==Campuses==