Ring laser gyroscope (RLG) is pivotal to the technological revolution transitioning from platform inertial navigation to strapdown inertial navigation in the field of inertial guidance and navigation. To this day, RLG remains the dominant gyroscopic technology in the global high-end inertial sensor market. This article first traces the theoretical origins and feasibility concepts of RLG. Then, it systematically reviews the development and application history of RLG technology in China and abroad across four stages: initial research, technological breakthroughs, practical advancements, and mass production applications. RLG was invented in the 1960s, with the United States pioneering core key technologies. Building on a dual-track industrial model for commercialization and military-civilian use, its equipment adaptability and high reliability drove a revolutionary advancement in inertial technology from mechanical gyroscopes to optical gyroscopes, achieving widespread application in both civil aviation and military domains. China's RLG research began in the 1970s, gradually overcoming challenges in foundational materials, key technologies, and core processes. It achieved a historic leap from imitation to independent innovation, progressively establishing a complete RLG industrial chain through the military-civilian integration strategy, ultimately achieving full self-reliance. Analysis indicates that RLG is a mature technology with proven performance and reliability, still very robust at the middle and high-end, and is becoming more and more compact as manufacturing advances. Future development priorities for RLG technology will include improving precision through quantum enhancement principle innovation, reducing costs via AI-enabled automated manufacturing, and minimizing size, weight, and power consumption through micro-nano integrated photonic technology.

The first progress was to further enhance the accuracy of laser gyroscopes (including metrics such as daily bias stability, power-on bias stability, operational bias instability, and angle random walk) while maintaining the required SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) for applications, thereby improving the performance-to-size ratio and inertial application efficiency of laser gyroscopes. The second progress was to further reduce the total lifecycle cost of laser gyroscope products (including manufacturing costs, reliability, lifespan, and other indicators) while maintaining the same level of gyro navigation accuracy, thereby improving the cost-performance ratio and market competitiveness of laser gyroscopes. The third progress was to further reduce the SWaP and cost of laser gyroscope products while ensuring that the gyroscope accuracy met the application requirements, and further expanded the application survival space of laser gyroscopes. The next research direction was to transplant integrated photonic technology into micro laser gyroscopes.

Ring laser gyroscopes boast outstanding advantages such as high precision, rapid startup, excellent reliability, wide dynamic range, stable scale factor, and strong environmental adaptability. With high technical maturity, it is extensively validated and widely applied in both military and civilian fields, remaining the dominant gyroscope technology in the global high-end inertial sensor market. Advances in manufacturing make ring laser gyroscopes and their inertial systems increasingly compact. Leveraging comprehensive strengths in precision, cost, and SWaP, they continue to maintain formidable competitiveness in the mid-to-high-end inertial application markets. The next step involves improving precision through quantum enhancement principles, reducing costs via AI-driven automated manufacturing, and minimizing size, weight, and power consumption with micro-nano photonic integration—key technical directions for future laser gyroscope development. By harnessing rapidly evolving automated processing, AI manufacturing, and modern management techniques, along with advancing full-industry-chain division of labor and collaboration, there is significant potential to reduce mass production costs for ring laser gyroscopes. This further expand their application scope, providing cost-effective advanced inertial sensor solutions for emerging markets like autonomous navigation of multi-domain unmanned platforms, robust precision guidance in denied environments, and autonomous guidance for mobile logistics.