Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Aug 24, 2025

Growing drone force boosts China’s surveillance and reach in sky and sea

Growing drone force boosts China’s surveillance and reach in sky and sea

A lightweight shipborne helicopter, a submarine drone that can fly and the military’s Robo-Shark broaden China’s network of tech options, says analyst.

The latest unmanned vehicle to join China’s intelligence gathering network has had its maiden flight, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In a report on Monday, CCTV said the vehicle, the AR-500CJ, a lightweight shipborne helicopter developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, could be used for both military and civilian applications, such as maritime search and rescue.

During its maiden flight in China’s eastern Jiangxi province, the AR-500CJ performed manned take-off, landing and hovering, and landed smoothly. It will undergo functional and performance test flights and will have a technical appraisal in 2023.

Besides the helicopter drone, China has developed other unmanned hardware, such as the drone mother ship, the Zhu Hai Yun, the world’s first AI-powered drone mother ship whose wide deck can carry dozens of unmanned vehicles, including aerial drones, unmanned ships and submersibles.

Zhu Hai Yun is 88.5 metres long, 14 metres wide and 6.1 metres deep (290 feet long, 46 feet wide and 20 feet deep), with a designed displacement of 2,000 tonnes. It has a platform from which to launch unmanned military devices and can sail at a speed of 13 knots, with a top speed of 18 knots (21 mph) – similar to the speed of a container ship.

Similar to the Zhu Hai Yun, China’s first home-grown 220 tonne-class unmanned surface vessel is characterised by its capabilities in stealth and far-sea operation and finished its first sea trial in waters near Zhejiang province in early June, the Global Times reported at the time.

The unmanned trimaran vessel is more than 40 metres long, has a top speed of more than 20 knots and can sail safely and carry out tasks in rough seas.

China has also made strides in underwater gliders. Earlier this month, a Chinese research team said it had built and tested a prototype submarine drone that could fly at high speed, to carry out a wide range of civilian and military activities, such as inspecting underwater mines.

Last year, the Chinese military developed a marine drone named Robo-Shark that mimics the ocean creature’s movement through the water. Chinese state media said it was built to conduct “underwater close-in reconnaissance, search and rescue, battlefield surveillance, anti-submarine activity, hydrological surveys, communications relay and underwater tracking missions”.

The AR-500CJ and other unmanned systems highlighted the efforts and progress China was making in the development of unmanned systems, said James Bosbotinis, the book review editor for The Naval Review, the professional journal of the Royal Navy.

“Unmanned systems provide versatility and, through their diversity, a wide variety of options for employment,” Bosbotinis said. “Moreover, it could operate alongside manned platforms … in a manned-unmanned team.

“For China, in the maritime domain, unmanned systems can aid in the development of domain awareness, contribute to [from a military perspective], intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as providing additional kinetic options.”

Bosbotinis said unmanned vehicles would be particularly valuable in submarine warfare, and that networking unmanned systems into a wider architecture – such as a distributed sensor network – would be even more helpful.

“The Zhu Hai Yun, in this regard, is particularly interesting as it could provide the basis for a hub in such a network,” he said, adding that unmanned systems could operate in those roles or areas that were more risky, thus reducing risks for manned assets.

China is leading the world in developing and manufacturing unmanned systems.

The country has a wide range of systems in series production and in use across its army, navy, air force and rocket force – the military’s strategic and tactical missiles unit. The best-known Chinese military drones are the Wing Loong and CASC Rainbow families, both of which include multipurpose attack drones.

The Caihong series drone, one of the country’s flagship unmanned vehicles, has been exported to many countries in North Africa and the Middle East, such as Algeria and Saudi Arabia.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
×