According to the inquiry of official website of China University of National Defense Technology, the school was formerly known as Military Engineering College, which was founded in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. 1953. 1970 The school moved south to Changsha, renamed Changsha Institute of Technology, and 1978 was transformed into National University of Defense Technology.

This school is the first one to enter the national "2 1 1 Project" construction plan, and the only one to enter the national "985 Project" construction ranks and get the first round of national "double first-class" construction support.