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
Esko Aho, former Finnish prime minister, has stressed the importance of mutual understanding and cooperation between Asia and Europe, values he said underpin the importance of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Esko Aho, who was in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, for the BFA annual conference, emphasized the need for greater understanding between Asia and Europe as the two continents pursue closer economic and political ties.
"I think when looking at Europe and Asia, there are a lot of similarities. We are technology-oriented. We have a lot of common interests to keep world trade to be fair and open. But then we also have differences. It's very important that Asia understands European minds and vice versa. For us, it's very important to understand the Asian minds in order to do good business, or to be good in politics, you have to be able to recognize these differences," he said.
On the role that Finland and the Nordic region can play in building up that understanding, he emphasized their predisposition to trust.
"The level of trust is very high in all Nordic countries. That is something which is making a difference in Europe, but I can say that even globally, it's very difficult to identify any other part of the globe where a level of trust between people is so high as it is in the Nordic region," he said.
Founded in 2001, the BFA has grown into a key platform for addressing Asian issues and strengthening cooperation both within the region and globally.
Aho described the forum as a window for the world to better understand China and a platform for exchanging views on global trends, adding that such dialogue helps foster cooperation and the development of common rules.
"It has been a window to see what's going on in China. For foreigners, it's a great opportunity to understand internal processes in China. This is a place for dialogue, so that we foreigners, we feel that when we are coming here, we are able to tell from our perspective, how do we see the world's global trends and developments. And in that way, let's say, to learn, to work together, which is so important in the future, because I cannot see that we are able to solve the problems of the world without having collaboration. We need collaboration and common rules," he said.
Themed "Shaping a Shared Future: New Dynamics, New Opportunities, New Cooperation", this year's BFA annual conference is scheduled to run from Tuesday to Friday. It will focus on four core topics and feature more than 50 sub-forums, roundtables and dialogue sessions.
Boao Forum boosts mutual understanding between Europe, Asia: former Finnish PM
