【Text by Observers Network, Wang Yi】On the morning of September 3rd, a grand ceremony was held in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Soldiers in neat military uniforms marched forward in perfect unison, with a strong and powerful rhythm; helicopter formations flew overhead, forming the numbers "8" and "0" in the sky, symbolizing the 80th anniversary of the victory.

Outside the grand scene, this "September 3rd military parade" also became an important window for the outside world to observe China's latest generation of military equipment. Among them, several drones called "future combat equipment" have drawn significant attention from U.S. media. On the 3rd, the U.S. "The Drive" website's "The War Zone" channel lamented that China has clearly surpassed the United States in this field, and the gap is rapidly widening.

The report said that the most attention-grabbing one is a large stealth drone known as "Type B" to the outside world. Its size is comparable to the J-10 medium fighter jet, with a tailless design and advanced aerodynamic design, regarded as a true unmanned stealth fighter.

"The Drive" website analyzed that the official designation of this drone has not been publicly released yet, and it is temporarily called "unmanned air combat aircraft." Compared to other new drones displayed at the parade, this "Type B" has a significantly larger body and was fully exposed throughout, indicating that it is already capable of flight. Such types of aircraft are exactly an area where the U.S. Air Force has not yet ventured — at least not in public development.

The report further analyzed that, based on its design, this drone features an improved delta wing, side-mounted air intakes, and a single afterburning turbofan engine with a serrated nozzle. The overall layout is similar to next-generation stealth fighters like the F-35, indicating its capability for supersonic flight. Its belly appears to be equipped with a large internal weapons bay to maintain a low radar cross-section, while being able to carry air-to-air or precision-guided weapons. A sensor resembling the F-35's electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) is installed under the nose, indicating that it can not only conduct strikes and reconnaissance but may also take on air combat missions.

In addition, new surveillance and strike drones, unmanned wingmen, and carrier-based unmanned helicopters were displayed as part of the aerial unmanned combat formation during the parade.

Aerial Unmanned Combat Formation Drones, China Military Network

"The Drive" website said that although the current outside world cannot confirm the two mid-sized fighter-like air superiority drones have reached what stage of development, nor whether they have been equipped, it reminds people of the already highly capable CH-11 drone. The CH-11 drone mainly performs ground attack, electronic warfare, and intelligence reconnaissance missions, whereas the unmanned air combat aircraft displayed in the parade clearly leans more toward high-mobility, high-performance "unmanned fighters," and may even achieve coordinated operations with the J-20 fighter in the future.

U.S. media evaluated that compared to this, the U.S. Air Force has focused on the "Collaborative Combat Aircraft" (CCA) program in recent years, emphasizing the concept of low-cost, mass-deployable "loyal wingman," but has not pushed for similar high-performance unmanned fighter projects in the public domain. This makes the U.S.-China gap in this field clearly and rapidly expanding.

German military expert Andreas Rupprecht told the New York Times that the number of large drones and drones displayed in China's military parade indicates that China has given solid investment to this new field, "in many technical fields, it is on a fast track — sometimes equal to leading powers, sometimes even surpassing them."

The Associated Press noted that, in addition to aerial drones, the military parade also showcased new underwater drones, unmanned surface vessels, and unmanned mine-laying systems, which are referred to by Chinese media as "surprise weapons for maritime operations." These can perform tasks such as "covert deployment and blockades, autonomous detection and identification, and swarm networked attacks," highlighting the trend of future maritime operations moving toward intelligentization and unmannedness.

Jennifer Parker, an expert at the National Security College of the Australian National University and a former naval anti-submarine officer, pointed out that the outside world knows very little about China's new submersibles and cannot determine their specific performance compared to similar equipment in the U.S. and Russia. "But based on the quantity and types of such equipment that China is currently developing, they may be ahead of other countries in this field," she said.

"The era when China relied on Russian or other external systems has long passed," said Mick Ryan, a analyst at the Lowy Institute and a retired major general, to the Associated Press. "This level of independent R&D capability means that in potential future conflicts, China's equipment sustainability will be very high."

Aside from the aerial and maritime unmanned combat formations, the land-based unmanned combat formation demonstrated unmanned vehicles for reconnaissance and strike, mine clearance and bomb disposal, and squad support. These vehicles feature remote control, autonomous operation, and flexible grouping, achieving a new breakthrough in combined manned and unmanned operations on land. In addition to these traditional tasks, unmanned tanks can also operate in coordination with robot dogs, and small off-road combat vehicles can even launch drones, achieving air-ground coordinated operations.

Michael Raska, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said that ten years ago, the military technology displayed by China was often inferior to U.S. counterparts. However, this year's military parade showed more innovative and diversified weapons, especially drones and missiles, reflecting that China's defense industry complex has developed to an advanced level.

Ankit Panda, a senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the U.S., commented: "We basically saw what China said about intelligentized warfare, we saw strong unmanned capabilities, network capabilities, and modern 21st-century combat systems."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7546263932986507791/

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