Modernization Doctrine

Strong Military Forum | Improving the Coupling Degree Between Personnel and Equipment

强军论坛丨提升人与装备的耦合度

PLA Daily (解放军报) 18 May 2026

Summary

A commentary in the PLA's Strong Military Forum (强军论坛) column argues that units receiving newly fielded equipment—citing a specific case of long-range box-type rocket artillery (箱式远程火箭炮) where assault teams cut fire response time—are failing to achieve adequate 人装结合 (personnel-equipment coupling) because specialized training is underfunded, technical principles go unstudied, and some equipment sits unused. The piece documents an institutional friction the PLA has acknowledged repeatedly as new-equipment fielding has accelerated: procurement is outpacing the development of the operator expertise, systems thinking, and manned-unmanned collaborative skills needed to translate hardware into combat effectiveness. The framing of 体系优势 (systemic advantage) as the standard against which individual operator proficiency must be measured points to ongoing pressure on unit commanders to move beyond platform-level familiarization toward integrated employment within the broader weapons system.

Translation

Improving the Coupling Degree Between Personnel and Equipment

■ Xu Yi

After a certain unit was equipped with a new type of long-range box-type rocket artillery, commanders at all levels led officers and soldiers in forming assault teams, strengthened the cultivation of specialized personnel, deeply explored the potential of the equipment, and innovated the application of tactics and methods (战法运用), resulting in a significant reduction in fire response time. This practice is a vivid example of that unit's efforts to improve the coupling degree between personnel and equipment.

Improving combat capability levels and winning modern wars cannot be separated from personnel, equipment, and the combination of the two. Among these three elements, the coupling degree between personnel and equipment plays a crucial role. The coupling degree referred to here denotes the extent to which personnel and weapons and equipment are associated with, dependent upon, and integrated with one another. The higher the coupling degree between personnel and equipment, the greater the ability to exploit the potential of the equipment and generate powerful combat effectiveness. Conversely, it becomes difficult to bring into play the operational advantages of advanced equipment, combat effectiveness is degraded, and this can even lead to defeat in war.

At present, a new round of technological revolution, industrial revolution, and military revolution is accelerating, and the trends toward long-range precision, intelligentization (智能化), stealth, and unmanned capabilities in weapons and equipment are becoming increasingly pronounced. Some advanced weapons and equipment have technically broken through the boundaries of time and space and will, to varying degrees, alter the offensive and defensive structure of warfare. But it must also be clearly recognized that "guns do not move on their own—they require brave hearts and strong hands to use them." The more advanced the weapons and equipment, the more the role of personnel must be brought into play. Only by achieving deep integration of personnel and equipment, enabling officers and soldiers to master the characteristics of their equipment, and employing it scientifically within the operational system (作战体系), can modern weapons and equipment demonstrate their formidable power in war and secure battlefield superiority.

In recent years, a series of newly self-developed equipment has been successively issued to our military's units, giving officers and soldiers powerful confidence and assurance in winning battles. However, some units have not done enough to improve the coupling degree between personnel and equipment: some have not invested sufficient effort in cultivating specialized personnel; some have not studied or researched the technical principles and victory mechanisms (制胜机理) of new equipment with enough rigor; and still others treat new equipment as a "precious treasure" (宝贝疙瘩) to be kept on a shelf and left untouched. All of this warns us that no matter how advanced the equipment, if personnel cannot master it, it is nothing but a pile of cold steel. How to deepen the integration of personnel and equipment and improve actual combat effectiveness has become a pressing practical challenge that commanders at all levels urgently need to resolve.

Improving the coupling degree between personnel and equipment requires, above all, updating ideas and concepts. When we speak today of the coupling of personnel and equipment, the requirement is not only to be able to operate individual pieces of equipment, but also to ensure that personnel and equipment play their role within the entire operational system. Modern combat systems are generally composed of multiple types of weapons and equipment, and overall operation is required to realize systemic advantage (体系优势). Some officers and soldiers have remarked: "Today, any single element—even just one sensor malfunctioning—can potentially affect the entire operational chain." This requires commanders at all levels to guide officers and soldiers in cultivating systems thinking (体系思维), firmly establishing an overall-situation perspective (大局观念), mastering the equipment in their hands while also ensuring it is effectively embedded within the entire weapons system, and contributing to the realization of systemic advantage.

Deepening the integration of personnel and equipment requires the specialized professional quality (专业化素养) of personnel. Much of the weapons and equipment currently being fielded represents the application of the latest technologies. Unmanned equipment and intelligent equipment in particular are being deployed in large numbers—without genuine expertise, it is simply impossible to operate them, let alone achieve manned-unmanned collaborative operations (有人无人协同作战). Only by continuously strengthening the professional quality of specialized personnel, working to improve their technological level and information skills, and aligning their capabilities and qualities with the requirements of winning future wars, can commanders at all levels achieve the optimal integration of personnel and equipment on information-based and intelligentized (信息化智能化) technology platforms.

"A worker who wishes to do his work well must first sharpen his tools." Improving the coupling degree between personnel and equipment ultimately depends on training—making great efforts to strengthen actual-combat-oriented training (实战化训练) with equipment. Only by organizing officers and soldiers to boldly operate and use weapons and equipment, conducting training under demanding and rigorous conditions, focusing on tempering weapons and equipment under complex battlefield environments and high-intensity confrontation conditions, and strengthening the systematic and normalized employment (体系化、常态化运用) of weapons and equipment, can commanders at all levels enable officers and soldiers to fully master equipment performance, flexibly operate their equipment, and ensure that powerful combat effectiveness is generated through deep integration.

Original Chinese

提升人与装备的耦合度 ■徐益某部列装某新型远程箱式火箭炮后，各级指挥员带领官兵组建攻坚突击队，加强专业化人才培养，深挖装备潜能，创新战法运用，使火力反应时间大幅缩短。这一做法，是该部提升人与装备耦合度的生动实践。提升战斗力水平，打赢现代战争，离不开人、装备以及人与装备的结合。在这三者中，人与装备的耦合度，发挥着至关重要的作用。这里的耦合度，是指人与武器装备关联、依赖、结合的程度。人与装备的耦合度越高，越能发挥装备潜能，产生强大战斗力。反之，则难以发挥先进装备的作战优势，影响作战效能，乃至导致战争失败。当前，新一轮科技革命、产业革命、军事革命正加速演进，武器装备远程精确化、智能化、隐身化、无人化趋势更加明显，一些先进武器装备从技术上突破了时空界限，将不同程度地改变战争的攻防格局。但也要清楚认识到，“枪自己是不会动的，需要勇敢的心和强有力的手来使用它们”。武器装备越先进，越要发挥人的作用。只有实现人与装备的深度结合，让官兵掌握装备脾性，在作战体系中科学使用，才能让现代化武器装备在战争中彰显强大威力，赢得战场胜势。近年来，我军一系列自主研发的新装备陆续配发部队，给官兵增添了打胜仗的强大底气和信心。然而，有些部队在提升人与装备的耦合度上做得还不够，有的对专业化人才培养力度不够，有的对新装备技术原理、制胜机理学习研究不力，还有的把新装备当“宝贝疙瘩”束之高阁。这些都警示我们，装备再先进，如果人驾驭不了，也是一堆冰冷的钢铁。如何深化人装结合、提升实战效能，成为各级指挥员迫切需要解决的现实课题。提升人与装备的耦合度，贵在更新思想观念。今天我们讲人与装备的耦合，不仅要能驾驭单一装备，还要确保人与装备在整个作战体系中发挥作用。现代化的作战系统，普遍由多种武器装备组成，整体运行才能实现体系优势。有官兵感叹：“如今，任何一个要素，哪怕只是一个传感器出了问题，就有可能影响整个作战链路。”这需要各级指挥员引导官兵培养体系思维，树牢大局观念，既掌握好手中装备，又确保其有效嵌入整个武器系统，为发挥体系优势贡献力量。要强化人与装备的深度结合，离不开人才的专业化素养。当下列装的武器装备，很多都是最新技术运用的成果。特别是无人装备、智能装备大量应用，没有“几把刷子”，根本无法驾驭，又如何实现有人无人协同作战？各级指挥员只有不断加强专业人才素养，努力提升他们的科技水平和信息技能，使他们的能力素质与打赢未来战争要求相适应，才能实现信息化智能化技术平台上人与装备的最佳结合。 “工欲善其事，必先利其器。”提高人与装备的耦合度，最根本的还得靠练，下大力强化装备实战化训练。各级指挥员只有组织官兵大胆操作和使用武器装备，从难从严开展训练，注重在复杂战场环境和高强度对抗条件下锤炼武器装备，加强武器装备体系化、常态化运用，才能让官兵全面掌握装备性能，灵活驾驭装备，确保在深度结合中产生强大战斗力。