China Military Radar - History
When first integrated into the PLAAF in 1950, radar troops were charged with providing early warning capabilities to air defense. Today, depending on the type of radar systems, radar troops are an official branch of the PLAAF, and can be a specialized unit. As such, they provide the technical information for personnel in aviation branch airfield control towers and command posts, as well as in command posts in higher level headquarters and in command vehicles, for SAM and AAA units to be able to vector intercept aircraft or SAMs/AAA toward targets. Radar stations are typically located close to borders, on mountains, or on islands.90 In addition, radar units conduct air traffic control operations at airfields. As of late 2007, it was reported that China had an “air intelligence radar network” capable of covering the entire country.
China's military radar business sprouted before liberation. At that time, the Kuomintang government set up a radar repair station in Nanjing, and the United States provided it with some equipment and parts. When Nanjing was liberating, the Kuomintang government moved the radar repair station to Hangzhou and hoped to bring these talents to Taiwan. But these talents finally chose to stay and return to Nanjing after liberation, so Nanjing can be said to be China. The starting point of the radar business development, the radar repair station is also the predecessor of the 14th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (hereinafter referred to as 14). The 14th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation is the birthplace of China's radar industry.
After that, the technical team engaged in the radar industry in China continued to grow. In the 1950s, China's radar industry embarked on the road of independent and independent development. The independently developed radar was used in the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the 14th Research Institute also grew into the largest radar research institute in China. It has made significant contributions to the radar industry in China. There are 14th Research Institute elements in several major state-run radar factories in China. In the colleges and universities, in 1952, the People's Liberation Army Communication Engineering College (now Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology) located in Zhangjiakou City opened the radar professional and became the first military academy to set up a radar specialty in China.
In 1953, the school, now Beijing Institute of Technology, set up a radar professional course with the assistance of Soviet experts, becoming the first local college to set up a radar professional. In 1954, the first group of radar students went to 14th Research Institute production internships and saw some radars that were from the United States. Since then, the school's radar professionals often had business cooperation with the 14th Research Institute and also hired Zhang Zhizhong to come to the school for short-term lectures.
Between 1958 and 1959, the state specially allocated three sets of large-scale radars imported from the Soviet Union to the BIT school. The specific models are the P20 radar, SON9, and SON4 radar. The P20 radar is a search radar consisting of seven trucks, including power cars and antenna cars. Along with the three radars, a large number of radar parts left by the United States were also shipped.
After this radar equipments were shipped, the radar professional teachers and students overcame various difficulties to explore the assembly, operation and improvement of the radar. They also equipped some small parts like airborne and airborne radars, and energized them for experimentation. The establishment and growth of our radar professional is inseparable from the assistance of the Soviet experts, the support of the state, and the mutual support. Compared with other radar colleges and universities that have been built in the future, the BIT radar professional had a distinctive national defense feature from birth, with engineers for solving major engineering problems for national defense construction.
In 1964, many foreign countries began to study phased array radars in full swing. The National Defense Science and Technology Commission also asked our BIT and the 14th Research Institute to propose a large phased array early warning radar program capable of detecting targets of several thousand kilometers. At that time, Chinese were still not clear about the principle of phased array radar, and had no experience in making large-scale equipment. So the 14th Research Institute sent 10 technical backbones to participate in research and development. These technical backbones included those who had just returned from Russia.
At this time, the Cultural Revolution began, the research and development of the phased array radar of BIT was basically interrupted, and most of the work was completed by the 14th Research Institute.
However, BIT radar professional technical team still hoped to do more work for the country in terms of technology. In the practice of radar engineering, it realized the important influence of clutter on radar performance, so took the initiative to study the radar moving target display technology. The gun-aided radar of the BIT moving target display module was installed. In an army exercise in 1977, it was able to interfere with the aircraft that showed movement in the chaff cloud through the chaff. The leader’s conclusion was “effective” (Note) : Relevant results received multiple awards from the 1978 Science and Technology Conference).
The Red Flag-2 Guided Radar used mechanical scanning. In 1967, China's military used this type of air defense weapon system to shoot down the invading U2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft for the first time under interference conditions.
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