Material Revolution Hidden in September 3rd Military Parade, Lightweight Weapons Have Become a Trend

On September 3, 2025, a grand ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War was solemnly held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. This world-renowned military parade is not only a tribute to history, but also a “strength report card” showcasing the development of the Chinese military over the past decade. From the debut of the Type 191 automatic rifle to the formation of equipment units in combat-ready groupings, the parade reflected profound changes in the Chinese military’s equipment technology, force structure, and operational concepts.

As a professional in the plastics industry, the recently concluded September 3rd military parade was truly exhilarating! From the perspective of specialized plastics, it was not only a solemn tribute to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War but also a concentrated display of the latest achievements in China's military technology. In this grand parade, from individual weapons to large-scale equipment, polymer materials, with their unique properties, are quietly altering the development trajectory of military equipment.

Image source: The Paper

They make weapons and equipment lighter, more durable, more concealed, and even smarter. In this silent materials revolution, plastics have become an indispensable strategic material in the field of high-tech military industry.

01 Lightweight Rifle: Plastic Stock and a Six-Pound New-Generation Standard-Issue Weapon

From the footage of the Jiuxi Pavilion parade training ground, one can see the valiant demeanor of the marching troops. The rifles they carry are the new generation standard-issue rifles of our country, known as the Type 191 automatic rifle, dubbed the "Transformer of the gun world." This is its first large-scale appearance at the parade since being commissioned, and it immediately became the focus of attention.

According to public reports, as part of the Type 20 rifle family, it features high reliability, high accuracy, and light weight, weighing only about six jin, equivalent to the weight of six bottles of mineral water. The stock is retractable, better adapting to soldiers' needs and optimizing ergonomics; the handguard uses a new surface treatment process, providing a stronger grip, better heat insulation, and greater wear resistance. In addition, it is equipped with a Picatinny rail, allowing for the installation of various scopes to meet the requirements of different combat scenarios.

The new generation service rifle Type 191 is also known as the "Transformers of the gun world." (Image/CCTV)

The design of this rifle fully considers the balance between combat requirements and ergonomics. It features a telescopic stock design to better accommodate soldiers of different sizes. The developers stated that the handguard of this gun is made of plastic, which generally doesn't get hot easily, and the layer of metal inside serves as insulation.

Regarding the lotus-like muzzle of the 191 rifle, Wang Yang, a weapon development engineer, revealed to CCTV that on the battlefield, enemies sometimes set up devices similar to barbed wire. "The bayonet at the bottom of the rifle can latch onto the barbed wire. If you don't have wire cutters, you can use the rifle's muzzle to catch the barbed wire, and a single bullet can break through it."

Plastic Bullets: 40% Weight Reduction and the Revolution in Individual Firepower

In the field of ammunition, the application of polymer materials is triggering a revolution. China’s newly introduced plastic bullets are 40% lighter than regular bullets, which means that soldiers can increase their ammunition load from 120 rounds to 200 rounds. When scaled to the company level, the total volume of firepower increases by nearly ten thousand rounds. For heavy machine gun positions that require continuous suppressive fire, this change is tantamount to upgrading from "point fire" to a "storm of steel."

Plastic bullets use special engineering plastic casings, significantly reducing weight and costing only one-tenth of traditional copper-cased bullets. The cost of a traditional copper-cased bullet is about 3 yuan per round, while the material cost of a plastic bullet is only 0.3 yuan, less than one-tenth of the former.

In addition to being lightweight and cost-effective, plastic bullets also haveSignificant tactical advantageThe sound of their collisions is about 30 decibels lower than that of metal bullets, equivalent to dropping from a rock concert to a library whisper. This greatly reduces the risk of soldiers exposing their positions during operations due to the noise of ammunition colliding.

03 Individual Soldier Protection: Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene and Ballistic Equipment

In the field of individual soldier protection, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber plays an important role. Known as the third generation of high-performance fiber after carbon fiber and aramid fiber, it currently possesses the highest specific strength and specific modulus among all fibers in the world.

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers have superior performance. The ultra-strong protective new material yarns produced with this as the core material use high modulus polyethylene fiber reinforcement technology, combining lightness, thinness, flexibility, and ultra-high strength.

This type of material can be widely used in equipment such as bulletproof vests and helmets, with protective performance surpassing international standards.

The domestically developed intelligent lightweight bulletproof helmet utilizes an innovative composite lamination process. Compared with traditional methods, it reduces weight by 30% while enhancing impact resistance by 50%. It is adaptable to various tactical scenarios, providing ultimate protection for individual soldiers in combat.

04 Naval Equipment: Polymer Materials and Submarine Stealth Technology

Naval submarines, as an important combat force in the deep sea, have extremely high requirements for materials. The excellent sound insulation and vibration damping properties of polymer materials help reduce the noise generated when submarines navigate underwater, thereby enhancing their stealth capabilities.

In the protection of submarine hulls, anechoic tiles are key components. Their main ingredients are various underwater sound-absorbing polymer materials, such as polyurethane, polysulfide rubber, and butyl rubber.

To reduce the loss of U-boats, the navy once applied "Anechoic" synthetic rubber sound-absorbing materials to the outer hulls of submarines. This was the prototype of the anechoic tile.

The application of polymer materials in naval equipment not only improves the stealth performance of submarines but also enhances their durability and ease of maintenance. These advances enable Chinese naval submarines to carry out deep-sea missions more effectively, thereby safeguarding national security.

05 Airborne Equipment: Composite Materials and Fighter Aircraft Performance Enhancement

The aerial formation is organized in a modular and systematic manner, comprising advanced early warning and command aircraft, fighter jets, bombers, transport aircraft, and more. It basically covers the main combat aircraft currently in service with our military. Many are high-profile star equipment, while some are making their public debut for the first time.

In the field of airborne equipment, polymer composite materials are also widely used.

The Z-19 light armed reconnaissance helicopter is the first in our military to be equipped with a millimeter-wave radar and is likely the only armed helicopter in the world currently capable of carrying a millimeter-wave phased array radar to high altitudes.

The Z-20's ability to operate in marine and high-altitude cold environments is commendable. Not only are its materials resistant to salt and cold, but it has also made breakthroughs in rotor blade de-icing technology, further enhancing the helicopter's flight altitude.

Image Z-20 (Source: Jiupai News)

These technological advances are all inseparable from the application of polymer materials.

Fiber materials are a key focus for enabling the performance of new-generation military aircraft, mainly including carbon fiber, ceramic fiber, and quartz fiber. Among them, carbon fiber composite materials are the key materials driving the lightweight revolution. Extensive use of carbon fiber composites in aircraft structural design can reduce structural weight by 20% to 25%. In fighter jets and helicopters, carbon fiber composites are used in main structures, secondary structural components, and special functional parts in specific sections of the aircraft. Currently, the usage of carbon fiber composites in fighter jets has reached over 25%.

In modern fighter jet design, regardless of whether stealth coatings are applied, most modern aircraft avoid excessive radar wave absorption in their design and material selection. Within the family of polymer materials, there are many types of radar-absorbing materials whose surface matrices can maximize the absorption of radar waves, reducing or avoiding direct reflection. These materials are usually not single pure polymers but are composites made by using high polymer polymers as the matrix and incorporating various absorbers such as magnetic metal powders, carbon-based materials (carbon black, carbon fiber, graphene), conductive polymers, etc., to form structural or coating materials. The principle is to convert the radar wave energy into heat energy dissipation through molecular friction, magnetic loss, or resistive loss, thereby achieving a "stealth" effect.

Summary: From "Plastic Replacement for Metal" to Intelligent Equipment

The application of plastics in the military industry is advancing from simple "plastic replacing metal" to higher levels. Researchers point out that the future Type 20 firearm series will continue to adopt lightweight designs and focus on the intelligentization of firearms, such as technological upgrades like assisted aiming.

"The integration of information and firepower ('Xin-Huo-Yi-Ti') is the direction of future warfare, and informatization is also the direction for future military industry. Radar, optoelectronic systems, drones, and counter-drone systems all require extensive involvement of optical materials and various types of electrical performance materials, and this trend continues to evolve."

With the continuous development of optical plastic molding technology, optical plastic lenses have been widely used in various optical systems. They are not only suitable for optical systems of laser-guided weapons, but also serve as multifunctional special optical barriers to protect human eyes from damage caused by lasers.

Editor: lily

Sources: Special Plastics Vision, Liansu Network, Qingdao Global, Phoenix News, etc.