Yuan Wei (middle) and his comrades in arms are on the spot. Photographed by Zhan Hengji

"Unidentified air situation is found somewhere! The target height is..." In the exercise and training command hall, the drill information is constantly sent back. Yuan Wei, a senior engineer of a certain department in the central theater, made accurate analysis, judgment and evaluation of the data and put forward: "It is recommended to continuously track and verify the target!" Ten minutes later, according to Yuan Wei's suggestion, the theater forces successfully disposed of the target.

"Seeking war with all one's heart, practicing winning with all one's heart, and strengthening his ability with all one's strength" is a true portrayal of Yuan Wei's military career. Since joining the war zone, he has insisted on seeking combat effectiveness from scientific and technological innovation, led the team to develop various systems and applications, and helped the command organ to develop professional and scientific combat assessment reports. In recent years, he has taken the lead in participating in more than 10 major scientific research projects, won the third prize of the Military Science and Technology Progress Award, and won the second and third prizes respectively.

"I want to go to the front line of war planning and operational warfare, to the forefront of joint operations"

In Yuan Wei's opinion, every decision he made on his way to the army was closely linked to war.

In June 2016, Yuan Wei, who was still working in a certain department of the Rocket Army, decided to sign up to participate in the selection of a certain department in the central theater and work at the front line of joint operation planning. At that time, Yuan Wei worked very well in the original unit. He was a "double talented person" who was good at commanding and knew technology. In contrast, the Central War Zone has just been established, with new fields and new personnel. For Yuan Wei, everything must start from scratch and readjust.

In the face of difficulties, Yuan Wei is very firm in his belief: "A new blueprint for joint operations has been laid out. I want to go to the front line of war planning and operational warfare, and to the forefront of joint operations."

When he came to the war zone, Yuan Wei was always on the front line, working as a salesperson in the daytime to meet the military needs and study operational issues with the organ forces; In the evening, he also worked as a programmer, looking up data, designing algorithms, and building models in front of the computer, often typing code late into the night. "In order to fill the gaps in professional fields, we must not wait and rely on others. We must work hard," said Yuan Wei.

A drill task urgently needs to build relevant system software. Yuan Wei led the team to start from scratch and seize every minute to tackle key problems. Books and materials of all services and arms were piled on the desk, and the debugging of relevant software was overturned again and again... At that time, Yuan Wei was always in a hurry, leading his team to more than 10 scientific research institutions to meet military needs, and to transform more than 10 sets of relevant system software, successfully completing the task.

"Only by constantly updating the operational concept can we win the battle in the future"

"Seeking combat effectiveness from scientific and technological innovation" is Yuan Wei's work philosophy, which is also a vivid portrayal of his years of dedicated research.

In the eyes of colleagues, Yuan Wei, who graduated from the National University of Defense Technology, is obsessed with technology. "His dedication to innovation seems to be engraved in his bones. Those simple and boring codes often become simple and practical software after he hits them on the keyboard, becoming the 'golden key' to improve work efficiency and combat effectiveness." Yuan Wei's colleague Zhang Yanfen introduced.

The key to Yuan Wei's becoming a pioneer in the field of military scientific research is his "leadership" in thinking concepts.

"The future is systematic, information-based, and intelligent warfare. Only by constantly updating the operational concept can we win the battle in the future." Yuan Wei led the team to actively learn cutting-edge theories, introduce machine learning, knowledge mapping, natural language processing and other technologies, integrate artificial intelligence and cloud computing into the system, and achieve the cyclic and iterative upgrading of operational theory and applications.

"You can't enter the information age physically, but the old way is still in your head." Yuan Wei took the combat simulation system as the key direction, and worked all night to tackle key problems. During that time, he often built a virtual environment during the day, rehearsed the exercise process, listened to opinions and suggestions, studied solutions at night, and wrote adjustment code. They have developed more than 100 system functions, refined more than 100 calculation points, constructed more than 100 model algorithms, and promoted the transformation from a qualitative planning method to a refined planning method relying on model algorithms and speaking with data.

"I am willing to be a 'guide ladder' for talents and study and improve with everyone"

"Senior engineer Yuan is not only skilled, but also has excellent team leadership ability. He is well-known as a 'gold medal instructor'." From unit leaders to ordinary soldiers, talking about Yuan Wei can't help but give a thumbs up.

"Joint victory depends on talents. To build a high-level joint operation command organization, more combat oriented scientific research talents need to be cultivated. I am willing to be a" guide ladder "for talents and work with everyone to study and improve." Yuan Wei said.

After Feng Chao, the assistant engineer, graduated from the military academy, he was confused and lost in the face of joint battle command and support. "Although Feng Chao's ability to edit code and use algorithms is insufficient, his ability to analyze and summarize data is outstanding, and he can quickly produce high-quality analysis reports." Yuan Wei made a detailed analysis of Feng Chao's strengths and weaknesses.

When developing a combat system, Yuan Wei purposely asked Feng Chao to work in his field of expertise, and constantly encouraged him to develop his strengths and complement his weaknesses; Feng Chao also successfully completed the research and development task and began to make a figure in technical research. Under the encouragement and guidance of Yuan Wei, Feng Chao won the Grand Prize in the military modeling competition, and a system participated in the R&D won the third prize of the Military Science and Technology Progress Award, which greatly improved the technology and capability.

In recent years, Yuan Wei has taken leading the team to participate in the military modeling contest as a good platform for training the backbone and training the team, giving full play to the educational function of the chief instructor. During the preparation for the competition, Yuan Wei led everyone to learn algorithms, modeling, and programming. He also divided teams to strengthen skills according to different people.

During the competition, the members of each group ate and slept in the same room. Yuan Wei was always energetic and took the initiative to do the most complicated work. Driven by him, we worked together sincerely and achieved good results. "I feel I have gained a lot by taking part in a competition and bringing out a batch of good seedlings," said Yuan Wei.

"On the road to building a strong military, I have only taken a small step, and there is still a long way to go." In the face of honor and achievements, Yuan Wei did not stop the pace of progress, turned around and led the team into the military application research of new technologies

(Wang Zhuo participated in the collection and writing)

People's Daily (August 4, 2023, edition 11)

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