FILE: Beijing, China - Sept 3, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of aircraft flying

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. Various of Ben De, winner of China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 working

FILE: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Ben's photo

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of Ben opening cabinet, reading Russian book
5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (starting with shot 4/partially overlaid with shot 6/ending with shot 7):
"I studied Russian at university. If I couldn't read English magazines, I couldn't conduct research on this subject. What could I do? I made up my mind to learn English on my own. I started with grammar and memorizing vocabulary. I truly seized every second, even while waiting in line for meals, I would carry a vocabulary notebook and recite words. After two months, I was able to read English materials."
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6. Various of Ben looking out window, leaves
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7. Various of Ben working
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (partially overlaid with shots 9-10):
"The radar had to detect missiles thousands of kilometers away. It was extremely complex and massive in scale. According to our calculation, including all the construction materials for the site, the radar equipment alone could fill 500 railroad cars. The cabinets were as large as refrigerators, not just one or two, but hundreds."

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FILE: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Photo of radar site
10. Various of photos of Ben with colleagues
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11. Various of Ben's old workplace
12. Various of photos of Ben with colleagues

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (starting with shots 11-12/ending with shot 14):
"The house we lived in was makeshift. The walls were rough and uneven, [and] the bricks were left as they were, with no plastering. There were no beds, just a few bricks stacked up with a plank on top. We persevered through all those years, and finally completed the radar. It took 15 years."

FILE: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
14. Various of photos of Ben with colleagues

FILE: China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
15. Radar

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
16. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (partially overlaid with shot 17-19):
"One challenge was technical, [and] we had to tackle difficult problems through research. The other was living conditions, as they were extremely tough. But everyone was focused on one goal: improving our country's defense capabilities. This conviction was the driving force behind our hard work."

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FILE: China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
17. Various of technician operating equipment

FILE: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Various of equipment
19. Various of photos of engineers
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20. Various of Ben's workplace

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Ben working
22. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (starting with shot 21/partially overlaid with shot 23):
"When the theoretical research was clarified, we listed out the challenges, more than 100 of them. The institute assigned 300 to 400 engineers to work on this project. After several years of arduous efforts, by 1986, preliminary results were achieved on these key issues."
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23. Various of Ben reading book, working
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24. Various of Ben discussing with scientists, walking
25. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ben De, winner, China's top sci-tech award for year 2025 (starting with shot 24/ending with shot 26):
"This award is both an encouragement and a spur to me, and also a new starting point. As a scientific researcher, I believe I should continue to serve my country through innovation. Even when conditions are favorable, we must work hard, endure hardship, and fight continuously, to continue to carry forward this spirit."
26. Various of Ben discussing with scientists

Ben De, winner of China's top sci-tech award for year 2025, has dedicated his career to advancing China's radar early warning and detection systems across land, sea, air and space, equipping the country with sharp and precise detection capabilities for information dominance.

Born in 1938, Ben is a researcher at the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). He is acclaimed as the founder of China's airborne pulse Doppler radar technology, a major pioneer of phased-array radar technology, and a forerunner of space-based surveillance radar technology.

During China's major military parade on September 3, 2025, fighter jet formations demonstrated the modern capabilities of the Chinese air force in coordinated operations.

The radar technology that determines the detection and strike accuracy of these fighters was developed independently by Chinese scientists over the course of a decade. Ben is the founding father of this technology.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Ben was admitted to the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeast China to study radar technology, motivated by a desire to contribute to national reconstruction and development.

In 1963, after graduating from university, Ben came to Nanjing City of east China's Jiangsu Province and joined what is now the 14th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC 14). This institute is the birthplace of New China's radar industry.

In Nanjing, Ben took on his first major assignment: participating in research on phased-array radar technology.

This technology had only emerged in the early 1960s, and there was no established experience to draw upon. The only available learning resources were a few English-language magazines published by Western countries.

"I studied Russian at university. If I couldn't read English magazines, I couldn't conduct research on this subject. What could I do? I made up my mind to learn English on my own. I started with grammar and memorizing vocabulary. I truly seized every second, even while waiting in line for meals, I would carry a vocabulary notebook and recite words. After two months, I was able to read English materials," Ben said.

In 1970, the central government ordered the construction of China's first long-range phased-array early-warning radar. The development of the radar, codenamed "7010," was launched at the CETC 14, with Ben serving as deputy group leader.


To protect against bombing, the radar was built into a mountain, with radar equipment housed inside a cave and the hillside covered with antennas.
The antenna array consisted of more than 8,000 antenna units, covering an area equivalent to two and a half basketball courts and reaching a height of eight stories, a massive engineering undertaking.

"The radar had to detect missiles thousands of kilometers away. It was extremely complex and massive in scale. According to our calculation, including all the construction materials for the site, the radar equipment alone could fill 500 railroad cars. The cabinets were as large as refrigerators, not just one or two, but hundreds," said Ben.

Facing such a monumental task, Ben and his team were stationed deep in the mountains for an extended period. They endured harsh living conditions and overcame countless challenges.

"The house we lived in was makeshift. The walls were rough and uneven, [and] the bricks were left as they were, with no plastering. There were no beds, just a few bricks stacked up with a plank on top. We persevered through all those years, and finally completed the radar. It took 15 years," Ben said.

The successful development of the "7010" radar made China the world's third country, after the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, to possess a long-range phased-array early-warning radar system.

"One challenge was technical, [and] we had to tackle difficult problems through research. The other was living conditions, as they were extremely tough. But everyone was focused on one goal: improving our country's defense capabilities. This conviction was the driving force behind our hard work," Ben said.

After completing the phased-array radar, Ben pressed on. As radar technology advanced and national defense needs grew, he took on the next challenge: airborne pulse Doppler fire-control radar.

At that time, the technology was a closely guarded capability held by only a few countries. Facing severe technological blockades, Ben again devoted himself to studying its core principles.

"When the theoretical research was clarified, we listed out the challenges, more than 100 of them. The institute assigned 300 to 400 engineers to work on this project. After several years of arduous efforts, by 1986, preliminary results were achieved on these key issues," said Ben.

Once the principles were mastered, full-system testing began. Because the radar was mounted in the aircraft's nose, Ben, then nearly 50, personally joined test flights almost every time and kept flying for two years.

At the end of 1989, the airborne pulse Doppler fire-control radar successfully passed national appraisal. From then on, Chinese combat aircraft gained the ability to operate at high altitudes and engage low-flying intruders.

Now nearly 90, Ben still closely follows the latest developments in radar technology. He remains active on the front lines of scientific research, pursuing the next global technological frontier.

"This award is both an encouragement and a spur to me, and also a new starting point. As a scientific researcher, I believe I should continue to serve my country through innovation. Even when conditions are favorable, we must work hard, endure hardship, and fight continuously, to continue to carry forward this spirit," said Ben.