Military equipment science is a new discipline with rich contents and an important part of modern military science. I. The Position and Function of Military Equipment Science Since the emergence of war in human society, weapons and equipment as a tool of war have become the material foundation of the armed forces and the basic elements of military combat services. Therefore, military strategists at all times and all over the world regard the development of weapons and equipment as an important military policy and attach great importance to the development, use and management of weapons and equipment. Mao Zedong has clearly pointed out that weapons and equipment are an important factor in determining the outcome of a war. After the Second World War, especially since the 1980s, with the rapid development and wide application of military high technology, the performance of weapons and equipment has made a qualitative leap-longer range, higher precision and greater power. In many international local wars and emergencies, high-tech weapons and equipment have been widely used by both warring parties, especially the US-Iraq Gulf War in the early 1990s, which fully demonstrated the power and role of high-tech weapons and equipment. It shows people that under high-tech conditions, weapons and equipment, especially high-tech weapons and equipment, strongly affect the process and outcome of the war and play an increasingly important role in the victory or defeat of the war. The role of weapons and equipment is also reflected in its influence on all aspects of the military field. It not only urges the army to constantly adjust its establishment and system, change the proportion of various services and arms, and leads to the elimination of outdated services and arms and the establishment of new services and arms, but also causes changes in strategic and tactical thinking, operational methods and military art theory. At the same time, it also has great influence and changes on all aspects of army building, such as command mode, military training, battlefield construction, cadre structure, logistics support, and basic army system. In peacetime, weapons and equipment also play an important role. The construction of weapons and equipment is an important part of army building, and the modernization of weapons and equipment has become an important symbol of the modernization of troops and national defense in the world. Therefore, strengthening the theoretical research of weapons and equipment and exploring the development and management theory of weapons and equipment have become an important topic in military research in many countries in the world, which will have important practical and long-term strategic significance for promoting the development of our military weapons and equipment and accelerating our military modernization. Second, the establishment and development of military equipment science Although weapons and equipment began to appear as early as the war at the end of primitive society, as an indispensable part of military science, the theory of weapons and equipment has not developed into a scientific and complete knowledge system for a long time. In the existing theoretical works related to weapons and equipment, most of them are works on the principles of weapons technology, operation tutorials, knowledge books and so on, and there are few basic theoretical works systematically expounding the development, management and influence of weapons and equipment. The changes of the times in establishing China's military equipment science. For a long time, military science has never belonged to the category of Chinese studies in China's degree regulations. 1983 65438+In February, according to the proposal of the China People's Liberation Army Academic Degrees Leading Group, the International Academic Degrees Committee decided to add the discipline of military science. 1990 10 The Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the State Education Commission officially issued the Catalogue of Disciplines and Specialties for Granting Doctoral and Master's Degrees and Training Postgraduates, which is divided into 1 1 disciplines and 72 first-class disciplines. Military science ranks 1 1, with 8 first-class disciplines, 30 in two disciplines and 279 research directions (equivalent to a third-class degree). The eight first-level disciplines are: military thought and history, strategy, military service, Science of Tactics, military command, military system, military political work and military education, military logistics and military equipment, which is one of the three two disciplines of military system. 1June, 1997, in order to "gradually standardize and straighten out the first-level disciplines and broaden and adjust two disciplines", the the State Council Academic Degrees Committee and the State Education Commission reissued the Catalogue of Disciplines and Specialties for Granting Doctoral and Master's Degrees and Training Postgraduates, which merged and adjusted the original two disciplines to a great extent. 30 two disciplines of military science were merged into 19. Although the number of eight first-level disciplines has not changed, the contents have been appropriately adjusted: military thought and history have been changed to military thought and history, military political work has been changed to military political work, and military logistics has been changed to military logistics and military equipment. In this way, the two disciplines of military equipment, originally a discipline with different military systems, have now become one of the three two disciplines established by the first-level disciplines of military logistics and military equipment. Third, the content and direction of military equipment science Because military equipment science is a new discipline, the theoretical system is not perfect at present, not only some theoretical viewpoints are still difficult to unify, but also the content and direction of its research are uncertain, and even the terms or definitions of military equipment science can not be found in various authoritative reference books or works in China. For example, the military terms of China People's Liberation Army 1997 and the Encyclopedia of China Events 1997 do not list the terms of military equipment or weapons and equipment. However, some experts and scholars did try this. For example, Professor Wang of National Defense University pointed out in his Handbook of Modern Military Science that "ordnance science is a science that studies the present situation, development trend, management activities and laws of ordnance." Scholars in the Academy of Military Sciences believe that "equipment science is the basic theory to study the development, use and management of equipment, and to explore the law of equipment construction and development from a new perspective of military art." However, they believe that armaments are different from military armaments. "Armament belongs to the category of military armament, and its content reflects the basic theory of military armament." The author believes that military equipment science is a science that studies the construction, development, application, maintenance and management activities and their laws of weapons and equipment. Military Equipment Science and Weapon Equipment Science are different names of the same subject, but the name of Weapon Equipment Science is not standardized. According to the author's definition of military equipment science, military equipment science mainly has four contents and directions: one is the research direction of basic theory of weapons and equipment, which mainly studies the accurate concept, basic attributes, status and function of weapons and equipment; The basic laws, basic contradictions and main characteristics of the development of weapons and equipment; The influence and restriction of various factors on the development of weapons and equipment; The strategic environment, key points, policies and basic basis for the development of weapons and equipment; The reasonable composition of weapons and equipment system and so on. The basic theory of weapons and equipment is an important part of weapons and equipment and plays an important supporting role in the application theory of weapons and equipment. Second, the research direction of weapons and equipment construction and development, mainly studying the strategic objectives and policies of weapons and equipment development; Reasonable composition and planning of weapons and equipment system; The road and policy to realize the modernization of weapons and equipment; The influence of various factors on the development of weapons and equipment; The reasonable composition of weapons and equipment system and so on. Third, the research direction of the application and influence of weapons and equipment, mainly from the strategic and operational levels, to study the application of weapons and equipment in various campaigns or war types; How to use weapons and equipment; Advantages and disadvantages of weapons and equipment; Weapons and equipment confrontation; The influence of weapons and equipment on war forms, battlefield characteristics, military maneuvers, night operations, operational command, operational support, military education and training, and military system establishment. Fourth, the research direction of weapon equipment maintenance management, mainly studying the technical support of weapon equipment; The significance, function and principle of weapons and equipment management; Systems and systems of weapons and equipment management, etc. Of course, different military international schools or military scientific research units have different research focuses on weapons and equipment, some are macro-abstract, some are micro-specific, some focus on the combination with military strategy, some focus on the combination with campaign tactics, and some focus on the combination with military economy. In a word, military equipment science is a comprehensive science, which is closely related to strategic theory, military service, Science of Tactics, military logistics, military management, military organization, military systems engineering, military operations research, military technology, military history and other disciplines, and influences and promotes each other.