HQ-9 air-defense missile is one of the air-defense missiles developed by researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy. FAN SONG/FOR CHINA DAILY China has become a world leader in air-defense technologies thanks to the hard work and dedication of researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy, the country's major developer of air-defense weapons systems. Researchers from the academy's Zhang Yiqun Laboratory have been playing a vital role in the development of China's new air-defense missile system by designing its control systems - the brain of any missile. Compared with previous generations of air-defense missiles, the new-generation missile system will have a wider range of targets and be much more technologically sophisticated, taking China into the ranks of just a handful of nations capable of designing and producing such a system. The cutting-edge missile's control systems need to be extremely efficient and accurate, said Wang Mengyi, deputy head of the Second Academy's General Design Department and former leader of the laboratory. Metaphorically put, the mission of these control systems is to guide a needle to fly 1,000 kilometers to pierce the eye of another needle, he said. For researchers from Zhang Yiqun Laboratory, their mission is to turn this seemingly impossible task into reality. Wang said control systems are mainly tasked with working out a missile's best trajectory and making sure it can hit its target. The successful development of China's new air-defense missile system would be unachievable if researchers at the laboratory had failed to design world-class control systems, he said, noting that they adopted new design methods that have reduced design time tremendously and improved missile performance. Wang Xiaodong, a laboratory researcher, said members of the laboratory spent numerous days and nights improving the accuracy of control systems and optimizing the algorithms that are central to them. For example, we worked 10 consecutive days and slept little each day to detect and resolve one extremely rare abnormality because all of us are aware that our nation's air-defense networks can only be reliable if we are meticulous and responsible toward our work, he said. The laboratory, named after Zhang Yiqun, a top researcher at the academy and former head of the laboratory, has been granted 11 National Science and Technology Advancement Awards and 28 National Defense Science and Technology Progress Awards due to its extensive contribution to China's air-defense networks. It has also registered more than 130 defense technology patents. In the laboratory, members of the Communist Party of China play a vanguard, exemplary role, leaders of the laboratory said. They always take the lead in innovating, carry out their assignments carefully, with scrupulous attention to detail, and also display an inspirational level of diligence and devotion toward their work. wellies and wristbandslogo wristbandslivestrong braceletcustom fidget spinnerswrist band com coupon code
A J-20 fighter joins a drill in this undated photo. The aircraft is working with other jet types on joint attacks.Yang Jun / Xinhua The People's Liberation Army Air Force has begun training its pilots a new airstrike tactic that involves all of its best fighter jets. An Air Force aviation unit in northwestern China, the first to use the PLA's most advanced fighter jet, the J-20, has recently been performing joint tactical exercises with J-16 and J-10C aircraft, according to the Air Force. In the exercises, the radar-evading J-20s take advantage of their situational awareness and stealth abilities to seize air superiority. Then J-16s and J-10Cs launch long-range precision strikes against land targets. The J-20 has displayed not only overwhelming air combat superiority in the drills, but also a crucial ability to clear the path for and coordinate combat with other types of fighter jets, the Air Force said in a statement. It added that many pilots in the unit are able to fly all of the three top planes. He Xing, a pilot taking part in the drills, was quoted by the statement as saying that the unit's pilots are trained to operate J-20, J-16 and J-10C to familiarize themselves with the aircraft and get to know their strengths and weaknesses. Then we will be able to know how to use the advantages of a certain type of plane to complement other models and how to make the best use of each aircraft, he said. Yang Wei, chief designer of the J-20 at Aviation Industry Corp of China, said in a China Central Television program about the exercises that the J-20 was designed to carry out strike operations to help obtain air combat superiority. The J-20, the first of China's fifth-generation combat aircraft, made its maiden flight in January 2011 and was declassified in November 2016. It started to be commissioned to the Air Force in 2017, becoming the third stealth fighter jet to enter service, after the United States' F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. It has been sent to take part in a series of combat exercises and has practiced beyond-visual-range aerial fighting maneuvers during the drills, according to the Air Force. The jet bears the important responsibility of clearing a path for other aircraft in an air battle, according to Zhang Hao, head of an Air Force flight-testing center that has deployed the jet. The J-16 and J-10C are also among China's latest combat aircraft and were developed by Chinese designers. They were delivered to the Air Force around 2017, according to the Air Force.
