In February 1958, China's Third Ministry of Machine Building (which had been established in November 1956 to oversee
China's nuclear weapons program) was renamed the
Second Ministry of Machine Building.As the Second Ministry, it continued to have responsibility for nuclear weapons design. The "new" Third Ministry contemporaneously created was responsible for aviation. In April 1988 it became part of the newly created Ministry of Aerospace Industry. At the close cooperation with the Soviet Union ministry was responsible for launching the production supplied by Soviet fighters F-2 (
MiG-15), J-4 (
MiG-17), JS (MiG-17PF) and
J-6 (
MiG-19) and bombers, H-5 (
Il-28) and H-6 (
Tu-16). Also launched its own production of
J-7 fighter (
MiG-21). Modern aircraft factories in:
Shenyang (J-4, J-5, J-6, J-7, J-8, J-11),
Xi'an (H-6, H-8),
Harbin (H-5) and
Chengdu (J-7). ==See also==