Modernization Doctrine

Strong Military Forum | Accelerating the Leap in Joint Delivery Capabilities

强军论坛丨加速推动联合投送能力跃升

PLA Daily (解放军报) 25 May 2026

Summary

The PLA completed the first half of its 2024 recruit transport cycle, moving conscripts from 18 provinces via more than 400 railway stations, 30-plus civil aviation airports, and multiple ports, with over 80 percent reaching their units within 24 hours. The article, published under the 'Strong Military Forum' commentary banner, uses that logistics milestone as a platform to argue for breaking down inter-service barriers in strategic delivery and accelerating intelligentization (智能化) of joint delivery systems. The framing — citing a formula that doubling delivery capacity multiplies combat effectiveness two-to-three times — points to an institutional push to elevate joint delivery (联合投送) from a support function to a first-order combat variable, though the article does not identify which command authority or reform mechanism is responsible for driving the integration it advocates.

Translation

Accelerating the Leap in Joint Delivery Capabilities

■ Gong Huaixing

Not long ago, the first half of this year's recruit transportation and delivery mission was successfully completed. Recruits from 18 provinces and municipalities across the country departed from more than 400 railway stations, more than 30 civil aviation airports, and multiple ports, with over 80 percent arriving at their units within 24 hours. This is a vivid microcosm of the leap in our military's joint delivery capabilities. In recent years, our military's joint delivery capabilities have achieved continuous breakthroughs along three dimensions — joint support (联合保障), intelligent delivery (智能投送), and mission coordination (任务协同) — the transportation and delivery system has been reshaped, and delivery support models have been continuously innovated.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, Chairman Xi has attached great importance to military logistics work, emphasizing the need to focus on guaranteeing victory in war, accelerate transformation and reshaping, and strive to build a powerful modernized logistics. Joint delivery capability is an important benchmark of modernized logistics and an important pillar of combat effectiveness. In major military operations, transportation and delivery often plays the role of being the first to start, used throughout, and the last to conclude. In a certain sense, how far transportation and delivery can "deliver" determines how far logistical equipment can "support," and even more so determines how far our military's strategic frontier can "extend."

Experts have calculated and concluded that every doubling of delivery capability increases a unit's combat effectiveness by approximately two to three times. Looking back at the history of human warfare, especially armed conflicts in recent years, it is not difficult to find that powerful delivery capability is a prerequisite for seizing the initiative for victory and winning the initiative in war. Conversely, without powerful delivery capability, it is impossible to ensure that combat forces, materiel, and equipment reach the front lines of the battlefield in time, and precise support and winning wars will face enormous difficulties.

Modern warfare is characterized by the prominent feature of integration (一体化): participating forces are diverse, the battlefield space is vast, and the tempo of operations has accelerated markedly. Joint delivery is a key factor in deploying military forces, achieving rapid maneuver, seizing freedom of action, and realizing strategic intent, and it is of great significance for achieving strategic deterrence and winning wars. To prevail on the future battlefield, we must break out of the mistaken thinking (思想误区) of discussing delivery in isolation and discussing operations in isolation, integrate joint delivery operations into the overall picture of joint operations for unified planning and coordinated layout, and drive the seamless linking of support elements with combat forces.

Relying solely on the forces of any single service branch makes it difficult to achieve the optimal effect of strategic delivery. To ensure the smooth implementation of joint operations, systemic barriers must be broken down, service branch resources must be further integrated, emphasis must be placed on integrated allocation of support resources (保障资源一体配置), integrated coordination of support forces (保障力量一体调配), and integrated command of joint warfare and joint support (联战联保一体指挥). Flexible, mobile, comprehensive, and multi-dimensional strategic delivery methods must be employed well, so that the use of delivery forces achieves a "1+1>2" effect, ensuring the ability to deploy at any time, sustain supply, and win in combat.

Today, the new revolution in military affairs is developing rapidly, and the widespread application of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence has provided technological support for intelligent delivery. We must keep a close eye on the frontiers of science and technology, make full use of advanced technological means, optimize and standardize strategic delivery operations, achieve precise planning and rapid organization as well as precise control and rapid coordination, and continuously elevate the level of intelligentization (智能化) and informatization (信息化) of joint delivery, so as to achieve "what is delivered is what is needed, and what is needed is what is delivered (所投即所需，所需即所投)."

Original Chinese

加速推动联合投送能力跃升 ■巩怀兴不久前，今年上半年新兵运输投送工作顺利完成。来自全国18个省市的新兵从400多个铁路车站、30多个民航机场、多个港口出发，超八成新兵在24小时内抵达部队。这是我军联合投送能力跃升的生动缩影。近年来，我军联合投送能力聚焦联合保障、智能投送、任务协同三个维度持续突破，运输投送体系得到重塑，投送保障模式不断创新。党的十八大以来，习主席对军队后勤工作高度重视，强调要聚焦保障打赢，加快转型重塑，努力建设强大的现代化后勤。联合投送能力是现代化后勤的重要标尺，同时也是战斗力的重要支撑。在重大军事行动中，运输投送往往扮演着最先启动、全程使用、最后收尾的角色。从某种意义上讲，运输投送“运多远”，决定后勤装备“保多远”，更决定我军战略前沿“伸多远”。有专家测算得出结论，投送能力每提高一倍，部队战斗力大约增长2至3倍。回顾人类战争史特别是近年来的武装冲突，不难发现，强大的投送能力是抢占制胜先机、赢得战争主动的先决条件。反之，不具备强大的投送能力，就无法确保作战力量、物资装备及时抵达战场一线，精准保障、打赢战争将面临重重困难。现代战争具有一体化的显著特点，参战力量多元、战场空间广阔，作战节奏明显加快。联合投送是军事力量投棋布子、快速机动、掌握行动自由和实现战略意图的关键因素，对达成战略威慑、取得战争胜利具有重要意义。制胜未来战场，必须走出就投送论投送、就作战论作战的思想误区，将联合投送行动融入联合作战全局中一体筹划、统一布局，推动保障要素与作战力量无缝链接。单靠某一军兵种力量，难以使战略投送达到最佳效果。为确保联合作战顺利实施，应打破体系壁垒，进一步整合军兵种资源，注重保障资源一体配置、保障力量一体调配、联战联保一体指挥，运用好灵活机动、综合立体的战略投送方式，使投送力量运用达到“1+1>2”的效果，确保随时上得去、供得上、打得赢。如今，新军事革命迅猛发展，云计算、物联网、大数据、人工智能等高新技术的广泛应用，为智能投送提供了科技支撑。应紧盯科技前沿，充分运用先进技术手段，优化规范战略投送行动，精确计划快速组织、精确控制快速协同，不断提升联合投送智能化、信息化水平，做到“所投即所需，所需即所投”。