Forum on Strengthening the Military | Use Every Possible Means to Improve the Quality of Weapons and Equipment

Use Every Possible Means to Improve the Quality of Weapons and Equipment

■ Yang Huan

Without refined implements, one cannot speak of warfare. Chairman Xi has emphasized: "Weapons and equipment are an important hallmark of military modernization, an important foundation for military struggle preparedness, and an important pillar of national security and national rejuvenation." This important statement highlights the profound significance of weapons and equipment, and also makes clear to us that winning future wars cannot be separated from high-quality weapons and equipment.

The professional ethics and conduct standards for the military's equipment domain, promulgated by the Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department, require adherence to common principles of professional conduct: wholehearted dedication to equipment (赤诚为装) and selfless contribution; working hard to advance equipment (实干兴装) and uniting in struggle; pursuing innovation in equipment development (创新谋装) and boldly scaling new heights; strengthening equipment through systems (体系强装) with quality paramount; managing equipment with precision (精细管装) and serving the troops; and administering equipment with integrity (廉洁治装) and conducting oneself with clean hands. The purpose of formulating and practicing these standards is to firmly establish a sense of mission and a consciousness of quality, and to use every possible means to improve the quality of weapons and equipment.

"On the day of battle, if a single implement is not refined, a soldier's life is forfeit." The word "refined" here refers primarily to the quality of equipment. Quality is life; quality is the odds of victory. Quality problems in weapons and equipment exact a price paid in blood, and lead to defeat in battle. In the Falklands War, although Argentine forces had made careful dispositions that drew British warships into an ambush, no one anticipated that Argentine stockpiled ammunition had deteriorated due to poor management and was sent to the battlefield without inspection. As a result, more than half of the bombs and missiles that struck British warships failed to detonate, causing Argentina to lose the initiative and allowing British forces to turn defeat into victory. History has repeatedly proven that quality problems in weapons and equipment bear on the lives of officers and soldiers and on the outcome of wars. In modern warfare in particular, combat is to a great extent a contest of weapons and equipment, and high-technology weapons and equipment are increasingly becoming the decisive factor in achieving victory. We must, with an attitude of responsibility for winning battles, responsibility for combat effectiveness (战斗力), and responsibility for the lives of officers and soldiers, ensure that the quality baseline and the technical and tactical performance baseline of weapons and equipment are upheld.

Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said: "We must absolutely insist on quality first. This issue is very important, especially for military-industrial products. If a few artillery shells fail to fire at a critical moment on the battlefield, it could affect the entire engagement." Modern warfare is a contest of system against system (体系与体系的对抗), a competition of system against system (系统与系统的较量); combat operations place ever greater emphasis on jointness, coordination, and integration. Whether the system as a whole can function normally depends on whether each component can perform its function on time and as intended. Any quality defect in any weapon or piece of equipment may be amplified through coupling effects (耦合效应) within the system, causing serious consequences. We must under no circumstances be careless about quality problems in weapons and equipment, and must absolutely never allow weapons and equipment with quality problems to be fielded by the troops or taken onto the battlefield.

Scientifically sound and efficient management is not only the foundation for weapons and equipment to generate combat effectiveness, but also a powerful means of improving the quality of weapons and equipment and enhancing their effectiveness. We should make sustained efforts to build a modernized management system for weapons and equipment, carry quality requirements through every link in the full-life-cycle management (全寿命管理) of weapons and equipment, and continuously raise the level of specialized, refined, and scientific management in weapons and equipment development. We should work to improve the quality management system, strengthen combat-realistic assessment and evaluation (实战化考核鉴定) of weapons and equipment, do a good job of quality rectification for in-service weapons and equipment, ensure that the quality baseline of weapons and equipment is upheld, and strive to provide an advanced, reliable, practical, and complete national defense science and technology and weapons and equipment system.

"If the method of manufacture is not refined, hold the craftsman accountable." To improve equipment quality, we must improve the accountability system, establish a system of lifelong accountability for quality responsibility, and ensure that authority entails responsibility, that the exercise of authority is subject to supervision, and that violations of law are invariably investigated. The glorious history of the People's Army and the national defense science and technology industry has nurtured a rich quality culture (质量文化). We must give full play to this unique advantage, establish the concept of pursuing excellence, uphold the spirit of scientific truth-seeking, carry forward the work style of being strict, cautious, meticulous, and grounded (严慎细实), inherit the character of selfless dedication, press down quality responsibility at every level and in every area, promote the inheritance and development of quality culture, rectify the ethos of the industry, and provide the critical material support for achieving the centenary goal of the founding of the People's Army (建军一百年奋斗目标).

(Author's unit: Unit 63936)