China's PLA found shooting at drone swarms challenging

By Matthew Griffin Security and Privacy 7th November 2024

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Militaries around the world are developing drone swarms that can swamp and destroy enemy targets, and in this first of a kind exercise China’s PLA couldn’t down them all.

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In what seems to be a first the Chinese military, which has been testing its capabilities to counter enemy drone swarm attacks, has admitted that accurately hitting the small targets may prove difficult.

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A first round of anti-aircraft artillery launched against a drone swarm during a recent People’s Liberation Army (PLA) training exercise achieved only 40 per cent damage, state broadcaster CCTV reported last week.

“Shooting at the drone swarms was still quite challenging due to their speed and small size, as well as their ability to change flight trajectories – making it easy for gunners to lose their targets,” Duan Xiaolong, from an unnamed regiment with the PLA Ground Force’s 77th Group Army, was quoted as saying.

China is among the world’s top military and civilian drone producers. In recent years, it has ramped up investment in the development of smarter and faster – including hypersonic – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and other forms of drone technology as such aircraft play a growing role in modern combat.

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Meanwhile, the United States, China’s main geopolitical rival, has also paced up drone delivery to its military with its Replicator Program and is working on drone strategies to counter growing Chinese defence capabilities.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

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