News Report: China's Military Science and Technology Develop by Leaps and Bounds

It takes China only two to three years to research and develop the equipment: from ordinary helicopter to the attractive armed helicopter as displayed during the review of troops on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China. Some small weapons can be produced in only half a year from being put on the agenda to their successful development.

China has succeeded in developing some high-tech weapons, known as the Chinese armed forces' "killers".

"China's military science and technology as a whole are placed on the front ranks of the world. The Chinese are full of confidence in the level of our army's science and technology." Cui Changqi, deputy dean of the National Defense University, made the remarks on the occasion of the 73rd birthday of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). He told the reporter on July 26, "China's military science and technology are becoming increasingly dependable."

"High-tech local war" is one of the topics of conversation to the greatest concern of the Chinese army men. The Gulf War broken out a dozen years ago and the Kosovo War erupted not long ago are the typical examples of war which they often discuss and study.

From these local wars it can be seen that the role played by military science and technology has, without a doubt, become increasingly important.

"To successfully bomb a bridge, it was necessary to move out a dozen or so airplanes to make dozens of sorties before the 1960s, what's more, it would easily cause losses to get through the opposite side's air defense network, but now one or two airplanes equipped with laser guided bombs can accomplish the task by making only one or two sorties, the coefficient of security and rate of accuracy have been greatly raised.".

Cui Changqi explained the importance of military science and technology by using this simple example. "Large quantities of high-tech weapons and equipment are used in the battlefield of high-tech local war, thus entailing a series of profound changes in the operational form and method, and bringing about a brand-new look in war. But in the opinion of Cui, the factors deciding the outcome of war are very complicated, one should not only stress the role of science and technology.

The National Defense University is the supreme institution of the higher learning of the PLA, Cui Changqi who has been serving in the institution for many years is an expert in missile, aeronautics and aerospace, operation, especially joint operation, he is also a member of the Chinese Military Science Commission, and a member of the army's weapon and equipment science and technology reward appraisal committee.

Decades ago, the Chinese army once used ground-to-air missiles to bring down five U-2 planes of the United States, creating in the history of world war the battle gain in shooting down planes in the ground-to-air missile actual combat, it is a glorious page in Chinese military history, as well as the history which Cui Changqi is proud of. He has participated in those seemingly inconceivable operations, at that time he was only an ordinary technical officer.

"High technology is not a myth, for instance, the U-2 shot down in that age and the US stealth airplanes brought down in Kosovo this time have both proved this," said Cui.

China has thrown great energy into the effort to raise the level of its military science and technology. "The Central Military Commission has raised the slogan "building up a powerful army through the development of science and technology", at present, the training received even by a just enlisted soldier is directed at high-tech war."

Decades of construction have laid a sound foundation for China's military science and technology and have helped train a large batch of personnel, the content of science and technology in weapons and equipment is being gradually increased, the independent development capacity of China's military science and technology has also been gradually enhanced. In terms of conventional weapons, China is rather advanced in the world. Army's weapons and equipment are by and large developed and produced by China itself. This can be seen from the weapons and equipment displayed during the review of troops on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China.

China possesses a batch of highly creative military scientific and technical personnel. They are organized mainly into two parts: the national defense industrial system and the army system. Cui Changqi said that in recent years, the vigor of the scientific research institutions and factories under the national defense industrial system has obviously become greater, the reform of China's national defense industry has brought for them a more reasonable structure and a more flexible mechanism.

A group of scientific research institutes and colleges and universities of the Chinese army are making contribution to the modernization of the armed forces. At the same time, the proportion of technical offices and specialized technical non-commissioned officers in the combat forces is increasing from year to year, they are the direct users of weaponry and equipment. The Chinese army is quite outstanding in the world in terms of its ability to grasp new technology and equipment.

The National Defense University is one of China's supreme military commanders' colleges and universities that train high-ranking commanders and high-level staff officers. After the Gulf War, this university quickly added related military high-tech courses and, along with the advancement of the program of "building up a strong army through science and technology", the training of military-technical combined commanders has become a target of the university. Cui Changqi said that in fact, some combat simulation training equipment used by the military officers of the National Defense University is in itself the world's first-rate high-tech products, they are researched and developed by China itself.

Currently, some high-tech war means have been placed on the battle order of the Chinese army, Cui Changqi is most optimistic about the future development of Chinese military science and technology.





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