China has been carrying out military drills using ‘robot wolves’ as fears grow that the communist nation could be preparing to invade Taiwan.
The People’s Liberation Army said it is testing a new warfare tactic which involves using robots, which were first unveiled at an airshow last year.
Recent footage aired on state television showed the so-called ‘robot wolves’ being used in a practice drone-led assault on a beach.
The four-legged devices are being developed with the aim of replacing human soldiers to reduce combat casualties.
The robot wolves are able to clear barbed wire and other obstacles easily, allowing the PLA to use the devises in a similar way to ‘drone swarms’, which have become a crucial tactic in the Ukraine war and are used to overwhelm air defences.
According to Chinese media, the devices can also fire precise shots and work in rough terrains.
Weighing around 70kg, the robot wolves can also hit targets which are up to 100 metres away, state media reports.
The military exercise also appeared to feature a pack of first-person-view kamikaze drones.
‘Robot wolves’ are being developed in China with the aim of replacing human soldiers to reduce combat casualties
The development of China’s new military warfare tactic widens fears that it is preparing to invade its neighbouring island state Taiwan
The four-legged devices are being developed with the aim of replacing human soldiers to reduce combat casualties
The military drills using robot wolves comes amid mounting fears that China is preparing to invade the island nation of Taiwan as Beijing appears to grow increasingly aggressive toward its neighbour in recent years.
Earlier this year, China deployed dozens of warships and planes to encircle Taiwan in menacing, large-scale war games.
Chilling satellite pictures also revealed what appear to be Beijing’s ‘invasion barges’ – gargantuan platforms that connect to form a mobile pier that could enable thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles to land on Taiwan’s shores.
The multi-day military drills forced Taipei to respond by scrambling fighter jets and warships of their own to dissuade any overzealous members of the PLA from posing a serious threat.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by authoritarian President Xi Jinping, sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back under Beijing’s control, by force if necessary.
Taiwan’s elected Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presides over a self-governing, democratic society and has sought close ties with the US, hoping its political, military and economic heft will keep Xi’s expansionist tendencies at bay.
American deterrence, the reliance of China’s export economy on the West and the cost of a military operation to seize Taiwan has led most analysts to suggest Beijing is more likely to use less direct means to pressure Taipei.
But politicians, military chiefs and industry leaders around the world can no longer afford to ignore the prospect of a full-scale invasion – a scenario which would shake the foundations of the world as we know it and could well trigger a Third World War.
