China on Wednesday unveiled footage showing the first full-process demonstration of its domestically developed, advanced Atlas drone swarm operations system.
The system, consisting of the Swarm-2 ground combat vehicle, the command vehicle, and the support vehicle, not only demonstrated expanding battlefield applications for drone swarms but also China's rapid advancement in algorithm-driven technologies, which are increasingly reshaping modern warfare.
In the footage, three visually similar targets were set up in the strike zone at a test range. The Atlas system rapidly carried out coordinated reconnaissance, autonomously identified the command vehicle among the targets, opened the launcher, and launched a swarm of drones. The drones quickly locked onto the target mid-air and struck it with precision.
The Swarm-2 vehicle, bearing the logo of the China Electronics Technology Group Corp, employed a mechanism with 3-second launch intervals, releasing one drone every three seconds to ensure safe spacing and flight paths for each unit.
A single Swarm-2 ground combat vehicle can carry and launch 48 fixed-wing drones, each capable of carrying a variety of payloads, including electro-optical reconnaissance and strike munitions, and can be flexibly combined into different operational groupings, forming multifunctional swarms capable of complex missions.
In addition, the type and sequence of drone launches can be flexibly configured based on the operational needs. Reconnaissance drones can be deployed first for intelligence gathering, while electronic warfare drones can precede attack drones to suppress adversaries, allowing tailored responses to different combat scenarios.
Powered by swarm intelligence, nearly 100 high-speed drones can form dense and precise formations within a short time during mission execution. They are also capable of autonomously adjusting to environmental factors, such as airflow disturbances, to avoid mid-air collisions.
The system's swarm-control algorithms effectively equip each drone with a "smart brain", enabling communication, information sharing, and real-time positional adjustments to maintain coordinated formations.
Such a large-scale aerial operation can be managed by a single operator controlling up to 96 drones.
The system also features drones of varying sizes, enabling layered, complementary capabilities within the swarm.
The Swarm-2 ground combat vehicle made its debut at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China, held in Zhuhai City, south China's Guangdong Province, in November 2024.
China’s drone swarm system shows precision strike capabilities
China’s drone swarm system shows precision strike capabilities
Japan's ongoing push to revise its pacifist constitution and expand military buildup escalate regional tension, warned Japanese lawyer Kyoko Oe, who urged adherence to pacifism and vigilance against the government's dangerous moves.
Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October, the Japanese government has renewed its push to revise the country's pacifist constitution and accelerated a series of military expansion measures, including increasing defense spending, deploying long-range missiles, and easing restrictions on arms exports.
Speaking on the dangerous policy shifts, Oe criticized the Takaichi administration for bypassing public will.
"We believe that when Japanese citizens are not demanding constitutional reform, pushing it forward through a parliamentary majority clearly violates the principle of popular sovereignty and the obligation to respect the constitution. Moreover, the content of the revision itself is extremely dangerous. [The government] is attempting to change pacifist principles of the Japanese constitution -- the most fundamental part -- and abandon basic concepts, including the renunciation of war and not maintaining military forces," said Oe.
The Japanese government has aggressively accelerated war readiness even under the current constitution, said Oe, adding that amending it will grant the Self-Defense Forces even greater freedom of action at the constitutional level.
"If the constitution is amended, the Self-Defense Forces will gain greater freedom of action at the constitutional level than they have now, and legal interpretations will develop in that direction. Even while the current constitution remains effective, the Japanese government has already forcibly advanced war preparations. For example, manufacturing long-range missiles, which were previously considered unacceptable to possess, and deploying them domestically; conducting joint war games and military exercises with the United States; and massively manufacturing and exporting weapons overseas," said Oe.
The lawyer also criticized Takaichi's provocative remarks on China, saying they have sharply strained bilateral ties and undermined peace and stability in the region.
"We believe that due to Takaichi's remarks made last November, China-Japan relations have become very tense and are deteriorating. Legal experts believe that Takaichi's remarks contain multiple obvious errors. Takaichi should frankly retract the relevant remarks and apologize. Only by building mutual trust with neighboring countries can we maintain our peace, and the peace of East Asia and even the peace of Asia. We believe that what the Takaichi administration is doing runs completely counter to what the Japanese people truly wish to achieve," Oe said.
Japan's constitution revision, military buildup fuel regional tensions: lawyer
