China stages invasion of the ‘robot wolves’ with sights set on Taiwan
The Chinese army recruits four-legged mechanical troops in attempt to mimic the overwhelming force of the Mao era’s ‘human waves’.
The long odds of a successful amphibious beach landing in wartime are well-known to anyone who has watched a D-Day film.
In China’s planning for numerous such landings necessary for an invasion of Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has revealed its new tactic – a drone-led assault with “robot wolves” as the first wave of attack.
Video released on state television shows renamed military versions of the “robot dogs” already in use for search and rescue functions, tasked with leading a combined assault on a fixed beach position.
The robots have a range of about 1.2 miles (1.9km) from control units, typically mounted in army lorries, which can co-ordinate their different functions including reloading. They were able to clear barbed wire and other obstacles quickly.
China hopes the robots will operate in a similar way to the “drone swarms”, a developing tactic from the war in Ukraine in which drones suppress defences by sheer numbers. However, military commentators said the wolves were vulnerable to defensive fire and had to be backed up by human reinforcements.
Military-purpose robot wolves were first unveiled at an air show last year and took part in the military parade in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary in September of the end of the Second World War.
The recent exercises demonstrate they are considered an integral part of China’s growing high-tech armoury.
Under Maoist military doctrine, employed notably in the Korean War, China relied on strength of numbers to carry out “human wave” attacks on enemy positions, dependent on the PLA’s multimillion-man army and the nation’s huge population.
The tactic came with huge losses and failed in its one attempt to attack Taiwan, when the PLA was unable to get a foothold on a Taipei-controlled island close to the mainland at the end of the civil war.
President Xi Jinping has overseen a massive military modernisation, bringing the PLA up to American, or near-American standards, in fighter jets, missiles and warships.
Like all militaries, it has also taken on board the lessons of the Russia-Ukraine war, in which small drones have played an increasing role in reconnaissance and localised assaults, on top of conventional long-range drone strikes.
The Chinese commentaries noted that the wolves lacked armour, found it difficult to hide when exposed and could be taken out by defensive fire – hence the developing concept of swarm tactics. However, working alongside humans they massively expanded the potential range of operations.
The wolves can interact using artificial intelligence. A team consists of a reconnaissance wolf, two armed with guns and one carrying ammunition.
Timothy Ritter, an expert on drone warfare at the US Centre for Naval Analyses, wrote in a recent study: “Uncrewed and increasingly autonomous weapons systems are changing the way war is fought around the globe. For decades, China’s research and development of [these systems] lagged behind the world’s leading military powers … This technology gap may be closing.”
The Times
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