In recent years, with the continuous improvement of China's military strength, the outside world has paid extensive attention to the combat readiness of the PLA, but for a long time, there is a problem that has plagued the PLA, that is, the PLA's "fear of insufficient firepower", especially in the era of 120,000 missiles per year, this problem is even more prominent.
The problem of insufficient firepower of the PLA can be said to be a long-term problem in the history of China's military development.
Looking back at history, especially at the beginning of the last century, China's military strength was relatively weak, the level of equipment was backward, and in the face of foreign aggression and internal turmoil, insufficient firepower became one of the main problems of the army at that time.
Even during the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) faced a significant firepower disadvantage compared with the Kuomintang army, which was not only a lack of quantity, but also a gap in weaponry and technical level.
However, with the continuous enhancement of China's national strength, especially since the reform and opening up, China has begun to increase investment in national defense and actively promote the development and upgrading of military technology and equipment.
A series of military modernization projects have been launched one after another, and the research and development and production of weapons and equipment have been strengthened. Although China's military strength has improved significantly in the past few decades, there are still certain deficiencies in terms of firepower systems.
This is mainly reflected in certain key areas, such as strategic strike capabilities and long-range precision strike capabilities. Although China has a huge number of land-based missiles, there is still a certain gap between China and the world's advanced level in terms of nuclear strike capability and long-range strike capability.
Therefore, the issue of insufficient firepower of the PLA has always been an important topic in China's military development in history. Although tremendous progress has been made since the beginning of reform and opening up, the problem of insufficient firepower has not been completely solved, and it is still necessary to further strengthen the research and development and production of military technology and equipment, enhance the overall combat capability of the PLA, and ensure national security and national defense stability.
However, with the development of military technology in the later period of the mainland, firepower superiority has become one of the important indicators of military competition.
For the PLA, the problem of insufficient firepower still exists. At present, China has become one of the countries with the largest land-based missile force in the world, producing as many as 120,000 missiles a year, but there is still a certain gap in some key areas, such as strategic strike capability and long-range precision strike capability. Why do we say that? Let's break it down.
First of all, the PLA still faces challenges in terms of strategic strike capabilities. Although China has a large number of conventional and nuclear missiles, China's nuclear deterrence capability is still relatively weak compared to that of the United States. In particular, in terms of long-range strike capability, China's submarine launch ballistic missile capability is relatively limited, and it is difficult to form an effective nuclear secondary strike capability, which poses a certain constraint to enhancing the PLA's strategic capability.
Second, the PLA also has certain deficiencies in its long-range precision strike capability. China has indeed made a series of major breakthroughs in this field in recent years, such as the successful development of anti-ship ballistic missiles such as DF-21D and DF-26, but there is still a certain gap compared with the long-range strike capability of the United States.
Especially in the context of network-centric warfare, the PLA's long-range strike capability is constrained by cyberspace, which poses a certain challenge to improving the PLA's battlefield informatization level.
Finally, the PLA is also deficient in its conventional strike capabilities. At present, China's land-based missile units are huge, but there is still a certain lag in the upgrading of equipment and the innovation of combat methods. In particular, China's land-based missile forces are still facing certain challenges in terms of anti-missile capability and anti-jamming capability, and this has constituted a certain constraint on enhancing the PLA's conventional strike capability.
From a practical point of view, in the face of the problem of insufficient firepower, the PLA is taking a series of measures to solve it.
On the one hand. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will increase its investment in strategic strike capabilities, accelerate the development of submarine-launched ballistic missile capabilities, and enhance its nuclear secondary strike capabilities. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will strengthen research and development of long-range precision strike capabilities, accelerate the research and development of long-range missiles and supersonic vehicles, and other high-tech equipment, so as to enhance the level of battlefield informatization.
On the other hand, the PLA will step up the transformation and upgrading of its conventional strike capabilities, accelerate the upgrading of the equipment of its land-based missile units, and enhance its anti-missile and anti-jamming capabilities.
With an annual output of 120,000 missiles, the PLA's "fear of insufficient firepower" has not yet been completely cured. However, with the continuous improvement of China's military strength, it is believed that in the near future, the PLA will surely establish a more powerful firepower advantage and make greater contributions to safeguarding national security and realizing national rejuvenation.