Doctrine Political Work

Strong Military Forum | We Must Not "Favor the New and Discard the Old" When It Comes to the Weapons in Our Hands

强军论坛丨对待手中武器不能“喜新厌旧”

PLA Daily (解放军报) 14 August 2026

Summary

A commentary in the PLA's 'Strong Military Forum' column argues that officers and soldiers who dismiss older weapons as obsolete misunderstand what the author calls 'the underlying logic of combat power generation' (战斗力生成的底层逻辑), illustrating the point with the 1960s surface-to-air missile 'close-and-fast method of combat' (近快战法) that downed U-2s, a Korean War infantryman's 14-round aircraft kill, and contemporary use of shotguns and fishing nets against drones. This is standard political-education content; its value is as a record of how the PLA frames the man-weapon relationship to junior personnel at a moment when rapid equipment modernization risks creating exactly the morale and doctrinal gap the piece warns against — namely, soldiers deprioritizing proficiency with legacy systems they will actually carry into combat.

Translation

We Must Not "Favor the New and Discard the Old" When It Comes to the Weapons in Our Hands

■ Zhang Xicheng

In the present era, waves of science and technology surge forward, and the form of warfare is accelerating its evolution toward informatization and intelligentization (信息化、智能化). Confronted with increasingly "high-end, sophisticated, and cutting-edge" modern equipment, a small number of officers and soldiers have developed a bias against the "old companions" in their hands, believing that traditional weapons are "hard-pressed to serve any great purpose." This cognitive distortion is in fact a forgetting of the underlying logic of combat power generation (战斗力生成的底层逻辑)—the value of a weapon lies not in whether its form is new or old, but in the wisdom and courage of its user.

New equipment, old equipment—whatever can win battles is good equipment. In the 1960s, our surface-to-air missile forces innovatively applied the "close-and-fast method of combat (近快战法)" to deeply exploit the potential of their equipment, successfully shooting down the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, then the most advanced in the world. Even the enemy was baffled: what kind of missile was this, capable of reaching an altitude of more than 20,000 meters from the ground in just a few seconds? When foreign journalists pressed Foreign Minister Chen Yi for an answer, he quipped that it had been "poked down with a bamboo pole." On the battlefield of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, volunteer soldier Guan Chonggui gripped a light machine gun and shot down a U.S. military aircraft with only 14 rounds, writing a legend of infantry small arms in air-defense combat. Examining current military conflicts, the contest between drones and counter-drone systems has become a new focal point of battlefield competition, and among the various counter-drone means, "antiques" such as shotguns, hunting rifles, fishing nets, and wire mesh have also proven their worth—with surprisingly good results.

From ancient times to the present, the practical application and iterative development of weapons and equipment have often come from a keen grasp of battlefield requirements. Just as the atomic bomb does not exclude the hand grenade, future warfare will by no means be a pure head-to-head contest of high-precision, cutting-edge equipment alone, but rather a hybrid contest (混合型较量) in which high-, medium-, and low-technology systems coexist and all manner of equipment and tactics take the field together. The formidable combat power of weapons and equipment can never be defined simply in terms of new versus old or superior versus inferior, and their true value does not lie in how advanced their designation sounds or how impressive their appearance. Very often, some seemingly plain and crude indigenous ideas and indigenous methods (土思路、土办法) can instead open up a new path, becoming effective tools for countering high-technology equipment and achieving high returns at low cost.

It is often said that weapons and equipment are a soldier's second life—silent comrades-in-arms and the most reliable support. In truth, those soldiers who have truly experienced the fires of battle and witnessed life and death understand that once the smoke of gunpowder rises and war arrives, there is simply no room to be choosy about weapons and no opportunity to freely swap equipment. The only option is to cherish the weapons at hand, build on existing conditions, and go all out to meet the adversary and strive for victory. The strength of the armed forces lies in new and old equipment working in concert to form an integrated combat power (整体战力); the skill of the soldier lies in turning traditional weapons into sharp instruments for defeating the enemy. In a certain sense, to despise the equipment in one's own hands is to abandon the pursuit of victory.

Comrade Mao Zedong once pointed out that weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; the decisive factor is people, not things. The reason that the miracle of defeating a powerful enemy with traditional equipment has been repeated time and again is that the users read the battlefield and their thinking stayed one step ahead of the enemy. Weapons are inanimate; people are alive. Human wisdom and courage are the core variables (核心变量) that activate the potential of equipment and decide victory on the battlefield. As soldiers, we must both bring the power of high-end weapons to bear and cherish the value of every piece of equipment in our hands; we must both embrace the tide of scientific and technological innovation and forge the ability to use equipment with skill. Only by doing so can we achieve the optimal combination of man and weapon, bring out the maximum operational effectiveness of weapons and equipment, and seize the initiative for victory on the future battlefield.

Original Chinese

对待手中武器不能“喜新厌旧” ■张西成当今时代，科技浪潮奔涌，战争形态加速向信息化、智能化演进。面对日益“高大上”的现代装备，个别官兵对自己手中的“老伙计”产生偏见，认为传统武器“难堪大用”。这种认知偏差，实则是淡忘了战斗力生成的底层逻辑——武器的价值不在于形制新旧，而在于使用者的智慧与胆识。新装备、老装备，能打胜仗就是好装备。20世纪60年代，我地空导弹部队创新运用“近快战法”深挖装备潜能，成功击落当时世界上最先进的U-2高空侦察机。连敌人也莫名其妙：这是什么导弹，仅几秒钟就能从地面打到20000多米高空？当外国记者追问中国外长陈毅时，他风趣地说是“用竹竿捅下来的”。抗美援朝战场上，志愿军战士关崇贵手握轻机枪，仅用14发子弹击落一架美军战机，书写了步兵轻武器对空作战的传奇。审视当下军事冲突，无人机与反无人机的较量已成为战场博弈的新焦点，而在各类反无人机手段中，像霰弹枪、猎枪及渔网、铁丝网等“老古董”也派上了用场，而且效果还出奇地好。从古至今，武器装备的现实运用及迭代发展，往往来自于对战场需求的敏锐捕捉。正如原子弹并不排斥手榴弹一样，未来战争也绝非单纯高精尖装备的同台对决，而是高中低技术体系并存，各类装备战法齐上阵的混合型较量。武器装备的强大战力，从来不能简单以新旧、优劣来定义，其真正价值，也不在于名号有多先进、外表有多亮眼。很多时候，一些看似朴素简陋的土思路、土办法，反而能另辟蹊径，成为制衡高技术装备的利器，用低成本实现高效益。人们常说，武器装备是军人的第二生命，是无言的战友、最可靠的依托。事实上，那些真正经历战火、见过生死的军人都懂得，一旦硝烟升起、战事来临，根本没有挑剔武器的余地，更没有自由换装的机会，唯有珍惜手中现有武器、立足现有条件，全力以赴迎战对手、争取胜利。军队的力量，在于新老装备协同发力、形成整体战力；军人的本事，在于把传统武器用成克敌制胜的利器。从一定意义上讲，嫌弃自己手中的装备，就是舍弃对胜利的追求。毛泽东同志曾指出，武器是战争的重要的因素，但不是决定的因素，决定的因素是人不是物。用传统装备战胜强大敌人的奇迹之所以反复上演，就在于使用者读懂了战场，思想走在了敌人前面。武器是死的，人是活的，人的智慧与勇气，才是激活装备潜能、决胜疆场的核心变量。身为军人，我们既要发挥高端武器的威力，更要珍惜手中每一件装备的价值；既要拥抱科技创新的浪潮，更要锻造善用装备的本领。唯有如此，才能实现人与武器的最佳结合，发挥出武器装备的最大使用效能，在未来战场赢得制胜先机。