New footage of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) shows a striking development: the army is training more and more intensively with robots, unmanned vehicles and autonomous drones working together with human troops. The footage offers a unique glimpse into a future in which speed, mass deployment and artificial intelligence are central. What stands out is how this trend parallels the war in Ukraine, where drones and unmanned systems play an ever larger role. In China, however, these developments seem to be implemented at an accelerated pace.
Robot dogs and autonomous formation operations
On the training ground, four-legged combat robots can be seen, sometimes referred to as “robot dogs”, crossing terrain that is hard for vehicles to access. They can carry out reconnaissance, be used armed or serve as a support unit alongside infantry. In the footage they do not operate on their own: they work together with drones that reconnoitre from the air or carry out small precision strikes. The result is a combined assault unit that includes both human personnel and unmanned systems.
Some exercises show these robots and drones being integrated into complex scenarios, such as amphibious landings, where they remove obstacles, reconnoitre terrain or isolate positions before human troops enter the area. In this way the Chinese army is practising an approach in which people and machines reinforce each other, a concept that appears more and more often in modern warfare.
AI and autonomous drone swarms
One of the most striking aspects is the use of AI. Drones train in swarms and are able to make decisions on their own about attack patterns, flight paths and target selection. Even when they lose the connection with their operator, they continue to operate effectively. In some exercises more than two hundred drones were used at the same time, fully autonomously, which gives an impressive picture of the scale and speed the Chinese army is aiming for. This is not new: America and other NATO countries are also busy with this.
The use of AI is not limited to individual drones. The software controls swarms so that they complement each other: some drones act as scouts, others as attack units. This autonomy allows combined operations to take place with minimal delay, something traditional weapon systems cannot offer.
Strategic exercise scenarios
The exercise scenarios are not only technically interesting, they also give insight into China’s military strategy. By integrating robots and drones, the army can attack several targets at once, spare human troops in high-risk zones and make decisions faster on the battlefield. Especially for coastal areas, amphibious landings or reconnoitring enemy positions, these exercises show that China is striving for a flexible, multi-dimensional concept of warfare.
By combining robot wolves, drones and human units, the PLA is testing how information dominance, speed and saturation come together. An area can first be fully scanned and partly “occupied” by machines before infantry enters the terrain, reducing risks and increasing effectiveness.
Reflection on trends in modern warfare
What makes this footage extra interesting is that it reflects a broader trend: the war in Ukraine shows that unmanned systems play an ever larger role. Drones are used for reconnaissance, precision strikes and even real-time improvisation. China seems to be anticipating this by combining AI, autonomy and scale with traditional military units, creating a new kind of combined warfare.
The difference lies mainly in scale and integration. Where many countries are still testing autonomous systems, China seems to be concretely practising them in scenarios that are operationally realistic. Robot wolves and drone swarms are no longer an experiment; they are part of a strategic plan centred on speed, autonomy and cooperation.
International implications
The recent footage shows that the future of warfare will not be determined only by human soldiers, but increasingly by machines that can act on their own. For other countries, this means that investing in their own unmanned systems, counter-UAS technology and AI-driven defence is becoming necessary. At the same time, this development raises questions about ethics and decision-making by autonomous systems in conflict zones.
