The invention discloses a U-shaped folded medium wave infrared 30-times continuous zooming optical system, which sequentially consists of a front fixed set, a zooming set, a compensation set, a rear fixed set, a first reflector, a secondary imaging set, a second reflector and a ternary imaging set from an object side to an image side. The system has a structure of which focal power distribution is sequentially positive, negative, positive, negative, positive and positive. The two-component zooming principle and the ternary imaging technology are adopted in the system, the focal length is continuously variable in a range of 23 to 701 millimeters, the travel of the zooming set is 194 millimeters, the travel of the compensation set is 39 millimeters, 30-times continuous zooming is realized, the optical total length of the system is only 559 millimeters, the ratio of the total length to the focal length is 0.79, the overall shape size of the system is 345mm*176mm*224mm (length*width*height), the F value of the optical system is 4 and constant, and the system has the advantages of large zooming ratio, low optical total length, smooth overall zooming locus and excellent imaging quality in the whole focal length range.