"Degree" quantity 2021 —— Annual development inventory of world weapons and equipment ■ Yang Wang Shijian Looking back at the world's forest of weapons and equipment in 2021, some weapons were delayed, some weapons research and development fell into a halt, some weapons lost their place, some weapons disappeared, some weapons were difficult to come out, some weapons performance was improved, and some weapons research and development made new progress In this issue of weapons grand view, let's "measure" 2021 and review the year of world weapons and equipment development. degree of heat Unmanned equipment "wisdom" appears Unmanned equipment is the "tuyere" in the military field in recent years. This year, at major defense exhibitions around the world, the proportion of unmanned equipment in participating equipment was further increased, and the development trend of serialization, systematization and intelligence was more obvious, showing two characteristics—— On the one hand, tactical innovation leads to technological development. This year, the "elf" project of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency made progress. The C-130 transport plane realized the air retraction and release test of an x-61a small UAV for the first time, and conducted a test flight again within 24 hours. General atomics of the United States is also conducting research on air retraction and release of "large UAV with small UAV". The UAV cluster combat style is gradually emerging. On the other hand, performance improvement innovates operational application. This year, the first prototype of the Russian S-70 Hunter heavy attack UAV was unveiled, and the engine tail nozzle, which used to be slightly abrupt, finally became coordinated. Senior officials of the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the S-70 Hunter heavy attack UAV can not only perform tasks alone, but also cooperate with manned fighters such as the su-57, which has considerable task flexibility. The "Uranus" - 9 unmanned combat vehicle displayed at this year's Red Square military parade in Russia has also attracted much attention. It is full of land combat skills. It is proficient in anti armor, anti infantry and field air defense. The Russian Ministry of defense previously announced that the first combat robot force with five "Uranus" - 9 unmanned combat vehicles as the main force has begun to be established. The U.S. Army has conducted live fire tests on two prototype vehicles of the "robot combat vehicle" project. The next step will be combat system integration, with the goal of realizing its cooperative operation with manned armored vehicles. Of course, autonomous combat is still the ultimate goal of unmanned equipment. This year, countries have made different progress in this regard, but they have a certain degree of "wisdom" in common. The "autonomous core system" developed by the "sky Borg" project of the US Air Force has successfully tested its flight and initially demonstrated a certain level of intelligence. The "marker" unmanned combat vehicle launched by Russia also completed the autonomous driving test on complex roads this year. There is no doubt that the autonomous capability of unmanned equipment has been greatly improved, but key decisions still need someone to intervene. Support, cooperation and support will still be the task of unmanned equipment for a long time in the future. After all, the potential risks of military application of artificial intelligence can not be completely controlled, and the ethical discussion on its war application is still ongoing. speed Missile attack and defense "superb" is the king As hot as unmanned equipment are hypersonic weapons. The difference is that the higher popularity of the former comes from the relatively low technical threshold, while the latter is due to its "true fragrance". However, the other side of "true fragrance" is "true difficulty". At present, hypersonic weapons are still the focus of development in a few countries. In this regard, Russia is one of the leaders. This year, the 3m22 "zircon" hypersonic missile successfully conducted five tests, including one salvo. The launch platform has both surface ships and submarines, and the target has both ships and land buildings, highlighting the characteristics of this type of missile with high maturity, strong adaptability and diverse functions. The Russian Navy's sea control operation and Strike ability against land longitudinal and deep targets are about to usher in a qualitative leap. The Russian air and space forces are also planning to tailor hypersonic ammunition for active fighters. According to senior Russian generals, the air and space forces are developing kh-95 long-range hypersonic missiles with a range of more than 2000 kilometers. The "elf" and "sharpness" hypersonic missiles with smaller size and more suitable models are also under development. The engine "product 70" for the former has completed the bench ignition test in February. The U.S. military, which "got up early and caught up late" in the field of hypersonic weapons, still adheres to the idea of "the three services make efforts and walk on two legs": on the one hand, the Ministry of national defense and all services are in full bloom, with a view to realizing the weaponized application of hypersonic technology as soon as possible and catching up with the progress of other countries; On the other hand, we should increase investment in order to break through the hypersonic cruise missile technology and realize anti super. However, its effect is not obvious. This year, three flight tests of the US Air Force agm-183a failed. Due to budget cuts for two consecutive fiscal years, the first batch production of such weapons in the United States has been postponed to 2025. Although DARPA successfully conducted the free flight test of aspirated hypersonic cruise missile for the first time in eight years, it was two years later than the original plan. Whether the "hypersonic attack cruise missile" project planned to be launched next year can be put into service within five years still needs a question mark. Of course, it is not without new progress. In October, the US Army received the first batch of "dark Hawk" hypersonic missile prototype bombs for training, and plans to deploy live ammunition in 2023, which is probably the closest hypersonic weapon in service. Other countries are not willing to lag behind in the development of hypersonic weapons. Before the end of the year, South Korea announced the hycore model of self-developed hypersonic weapon. In terms of appearance, it remains to be seen how much independent innovation "gold content" this weapon with both US and Russian technical characteristics has. Hypersonic weapons pose new challenges to the anti missile system. "Anti hypersonic weapons" have become a new capability required by some countries. This year, the US missile defense agency signed a contract with relevant parties to develop prototype satellites for the "hypersonic and trajectory tracking space-based sensors" project, so as to make up for the gap in the ability of the existing missile early warning system to deal with hypersonic weapons. The Russian air and space force S-500 air defense system is about to enter service, and the new S-550 air defense system is "on the road". An important index of the two systems is to intercept hypersonic missiles. Israel, which has a perfect local anti missile system, announced this year that it is developing the "arrow" - 4 ballistic missile defense system. One of the core indicators is to effectively deal with the threat of hypersonic weapons. height The upgrading of aerospace equipment is imminent Air defense is inseparable from anti missile. The progress of anti missile air defense capability will certainly promote the evolution of air combat level. This year, the "love and kill" between the "spear" and the "shield" has reached a new height: the requirements for air and space equipment are higher - the accelerated deployment of the fifth generation aircraft, the emergence of the sixth generation aircraft, and the intensification of space combat readiness. The F-35 fighter continued to spread, and the countries and potential groups with five generations of aircraft further expanded. However, it seems that the days of "lightning II" family dominance are coming to an end. This year, Russia's United aviation manufacturing group launched a newly designed single engine five generation fighter prototype "general". It is said that this fighter is mainly supplied to the international market, and the unit price may be only about 1 / 3 of the f-35a, with high cost performance. India is still struggling to develop its own fifth generation aircraft. The plan to make its first flight this year has been postponed to 2027, and the prospect is not very optimistic. The first prototype of kf-21, a new generation fighter jointly developed by South Korea and Indonesia, went offline, and its pragmatic attitude of moderately lowering standards and accelerating the development process is commendable. The development of the fifth generation fighter is in the ascendant, and the development trend of the next generation fighter has begun to take shape. This year, the US Air Force announced that the "next generation air superiority" project is developing the conceptual design of fighter aircraft. The shape is more sci-fi, and the standard xa100 adaptive variable cycle engine deserves more attention. It is reported that the second xa100 prototype has been tested, and this new power system will bring a revolutionary improvement in the performance of the fighter. New progress has been made in the b-21 strategic bomber. It is said that five prototypes are in the final assembly stage and are expected to fly for the first time next year. The pak-da design scheme of Russia's next generation strategic bomber has been approved and has been transferred to the prototype manufacturing stage. The first sample of the special engine has been tested. Europe continues to follow the road of "holding together" development. France, Germany and Spain signed the third agreement on the "future air combat system" project, specifying that prototypes will be developed by 2027. On the other hand, Britain also signed a conceptual design and evaluation contract for the "storm" fighter with the developer. It is reported that Japan and the United Kingdom are discussing a potential cooperation to provide power technology for the next generation of fighters under development. Considering the cost, difficulty and other factors, "multi generation hybrid" will still be the basic pattern of air combat equipment in the future. At the beginning of the year, the U.S. f-15ex completed its first flight. This fourth generation aircraft, which is known to surpass the F-35 in addition to its stealth performance, has a large bomb load and good mobility, mature technology and faster delivery, and its strength can not be underestimated. The old B-52 strategic bomber also ushered in an opportunity. The new f-130 engine will ensure its service until the 1950s. Also equipped with new engines are the tu-160m strategic bombers of the Russian air and space army. This year, the first modernized tu-160m strategic bomber has been delivered, tested and completed its first flight, and 50 will be manufactured according to this standard in the future. "High Frontier" is also full of gunpowder. This year, the US space force began to upgrade the communication satellite jammer, which is the "first offensive weapon system" developed by the service. At the same time, the US space force has launched the base station survey of the "deep space advanced radar", and the detection ability of space targets is expected to be improved. Russia is also extraordinary. In November, the Russian Defense Minister announced the successful test of the anti satellite system. Space equipment has ushered in a historic change from "watching" to "fighting". span The heat of large platforms does not decrease Overlooking the earth from space, blue is the main color. "Whoever controls the ocean controls the world." The prophecy of Cicero, an ancient Roman philosopher, quoted by Mahan at that time has become the consensus of all countries, and naval warfare equipment has become the most widely distributed weapon on the planet. This year, large combat platforms, especially aircraft carriers, submarines and amphibious warships, are still widely sought after. The Royal Navy once again has an aircraft carrier battle group after 38 years. However, the travel of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier was not smooth. Not only did the two frigates fail one after another and withdraw halfway, but also they were forced to float because of the epidemic. The most unexpected thing is that an F-35B carrier based fighter was lost on the return trip, which is even worse. The US Navy aircraft carrier Ford has completed the qualification test of the combat system ship and the whole ship impact resistance test, and plans to deploy next year. However, the reliability of some systems still does not meet the standard, and new problems in electromagnetic compatibility have been exposed. In fact, even if the Ford "persists in service with illness", it is difficult to alleviate the current situation of insufficient aircraft carriers in the US Navy. Too much and too far management will only increase troubles. Of course, as a country with profound aircraft carrier technology reserves and rich application experience in the world, the United States has made some achievements in the development and use of aircraft carrier based aircraft this year. The f-35c carrier based fighter that came out after a long call realized the first actual combat deployment, the mq-25a "stingray" carrier based unmanned tanker began on-board test, and the first latest f / A-18 carrier based fighter was listed. In addition, the US Navy has also released the conceptual design of the next generation shipborne fighter. Japan and South Korea are catching up with each other in developing aircraft carriers. The former completed the first stage task of refitting the helicopter carrier chuyun into an aircraft carrier and has the ability to carry the F-35B. Hyundai Heavy Industry Group and Daiichi