In order to meet the development requirements of the new generation aerial electro-optical system, a software modeling method based on UML is proposed by using object-oriented design idea. On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of the aerial electro-optical system software, the software modeling research is carried out from different angles by using the use case diagram, the behavior diagram, the interaction diagram, the static diagram and the implementation diagram in UML, and the characteristics and differences of each kind of diagram are expounded. The results show that the UMLbased software modeling method can establish a clear and intuitive software design model, reduce the complexity of software design, lay the foundation for software coding implementation, and have a guiding significance for the development and design of a new generation aerial electro-optical system software.