The Chinese build Unique drones!
Go Fund Me for my first book! https://gofund.me/11d58d68
Join this channel to support it:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDkfkGRzo0qcZ8AkB4TMuw/join
Support me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Millennium7
One off donation with PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Millennium7star
Join the Discord server https://discord.gg/kvuFyrxDez
AFFILIATE LINK:
Buy an Aircraft Model at Air Models! https://airmodels.net/?aff=173
----------------------------
Ask me anything!
Take part to the community Q&A clicking the link below!
https://forms.office.com/r/LNPQtf3Tc0
--------------------
Visit the subreddit!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennium7Lounge/
Go Fund Me for my first book! https://gofund.me/11d58d68
Join this channel to support it:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDkfkGRzo0qcZ8AkB4TMuw/join
Support me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Millennium7
One off donation with PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Millennium7star
Join the Discord server https://discord.gg/kvuFyrxDez
AFFILIATE LINK:
Buy an Aircraft Model at Air Models! https://airmodels.net/?aff=173
----------------------------
Ask me anything!
Take part to the community Q&A clicking the link below!
https://forms.office.com/r/LNPQtf3Tc0
--------------------
Visit the subreddit!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennium7Lounge/
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00It is a dark night and visibility is poor in the eastern pacific.
00:06A group of US destroyers led by the USS Kidd is training about 200 miles off the Californian
00:14coast.
00:15So far it has been a relatively standard operation, but at 10pm everything changes.
00:23Lights start appearing around the ship, they keep their distance but move around the vessel
00:27and can keep up with the ship's speed, they are visible to optical sensors and the gigantic
00:33SPY-1 radar can track them.
00:37When one gets a bit closer the crew gets a glimpse of a quadcopter, but the duration
00:42and the speed performances are beyond what can be expected from a commercial drone.
00:48The USS Finn, another Arleigh Burke destroyer, reports similar sightings.
00:54And then it's the turn of USS Russell and the USS Rafael Pereira to report in.
01:00All the ships are now engaged and their first reaction is to gather all the intelligence
01:05possible about these UAVs.
01:08What they do not realize immediately is that they are the object of intelligence being
01:14gathered.
01:20No, I'm not launching a new techno-thriller series.
01:23What you've just heard is a very short account of what happened to these ships for two nights,
01:30the 14th and the 15th of July 2019.
01:34Only after the fact and after a lengthy investigation spanning multiple years, it became clear that
01:41the drones were coming from a merchant ship that could be linked to the Chinese Armed
01:45Forces.
01:46Well, this link is not 100% sure, but there is a message here.
01:51Welcome to the new Cold War.
02:12So the Chinese seem to have made a strategic choice to develop their unmanned capabilities.
02:17They have invested heavily for over a decade, from cheap and expendable commercial quadcopters
02:24to high-altitude long-endurance drones.
02:26They also filled the first operational stealth UCAV, the GJ-11 Sharpsword.
02:33It is possible that the GJ-11 was inspired by US drones captured by the Iranians in 2011,
02:41but since then the aircraft has evolved a lot and it entered operational service in
02:482019.
02:49For now it can't operate from carriers, but there are definitely plans to create a naval
02:54variant to be operated from the Type 003 carrier and potentially from the Type 076 amphibian
03:01landing ships.
03:03But the GJ-11 is just the tip of the iceberg.
03:07The Chinese have funded dozens of varieties of drones and UAVs using their many state-owned
03:13corporations that also build their space and missile technology.
03:18Moreover, the plan is already building up its capability across the whole spectrum of
03:24its military assets, and they are deploying those capabilities on land and at sea.
03:30For example, China's second carrier, the Shandong, was spotted on June this year with a small
03:36fleet of commercial or commercial derivative drones on its flight deck.
03:42And these images really highlight how the People's Liberation Army is increasing its
03:47effort to develop various unmanned aircraft, including those that can operate together
03:53in networked swarms.
03:55If that were not enough, there is now the case of the Zhuhai Yun.
03:59The Zhuhai Yun is a 290-foot oceanic research vessel designed to deploy various underwater
04:07and aerial drones for various purposes.
04:11And this ship is also a drone itself, and it can either be remotely controlled by a
04:16pilot or can be left to navigate the high seas autonomously.
04:21In the words of the manufacturer, it is the world's first intelligent mothership.
04:28And though Beijing officially described that mothership as a maritime research tool, press
04:34news acknowledged that the vessel hosts some military capabilities that can intercept,
04:41besiege and expel invasive targets.
04:45Whatever this means.
04:46What matters is that there is nothing like this in American or Western availability.
04:58All this effort is becoming to affect the never-ending game played by modern military forces.
05:20Beyond the 2019 case that we have already described, that anyway is not officially attributed
05:25to the Chinese, there have been plenty of other examples.
05:30In August 2021, the Japanese Self-Defense Force led several fighter shorties intercept
05:38PLA's drones caught flying south of Okinawa.
05:43The drones were of the class of the American Predators or Reapers, and they were believed
05:49to be collecting intelligence in the waters of the Miyako Strait.
05:54It is a critical point of entry to the Pacific, and it has been the theater of increasing
05:59Chinese activity.
06:00These adversary drones are meant to stimulate America's most capable air defenses and those
06:07of the allies as well, to collect electronic intelligence of an extremely high quality.
06:14By gathering this intelligence, then countermeasures can be developed, tactics can be developed
06:20to disrupt or just defy them.
06:23Moreover, capabilities can be estimated and eventually cloned, and tactics can be recorded
06:30and exploited.
06:31Drones like those of 2019 or 2021 are sucking up or helping another nearby platform to suck
06:37up a lot of sensitive information about potential opponents.
06:43These drones were baiting US or Japanese assets, gathering intelligence about their response
06:49or lack thereof, for future actions that, well, we all hope are never going to happen.
06:55And by the way, a ship's or an aircraft's electronic signature is one of the critical pieces of
07:02information that are required to successfully engage the asset.
07:08It is so because it can guarantee a certain identification before opening fire.
07:13This fixes the IFF problem, which is the main problem of modern, long-range, distributed,
07:20network-centric, multi-domain warfare.
07:43I think that nothing epitomizes the Chinese effort like this picture.
08:03This is what is believed to be a satellite image that appeared on the Chinese internet
08:08in December 2019.
08:10This is the Malans Airbase Apron, the Chinese center for developing UAVs.
08:17As you can see, there is everything there.
08:19There are large, long-range, high-altitude vehicles.
08:24There are medium-sized drones that are relevant in a tactical or operational context.
08:30There are small drones that are supposed to operate in swarms.
08:33There are unmanned helicopters, and there are UCAVs, and so on, and so on, and so on.
08:38And this is just a part of the development going on in China.
08:42We will not go through all of them in detail, today this was just an overview video.
08:47This is just the beginning of a series that probably will keep us occupied on and off
08:53for a very long time.
08:54The point that I wanted to make is that it is safe, at least for me, to say that the
09:00Chinese are speeding ahead of the West in UAVs and UCAV development.
09:06So this is something that is definitely worth learning about.
09:09Anyway, feel free to draw your own conclusions and let me know in the comments below.
09:14They are open for everyone who has something to say.
09:18If you are interested in the development of Chinese military, we have several videos on
09:22this channel about the Chinese Armed Forces, Chinese Air Force, and the Chinese Navy, and
09:28they're going to appear beside me.
09:29An enormous thank you to all those who are supporting the channel by being a member or
09:34on Patreon.
09:35I bring you all in my heart.
09:37Remember there is a new way to support the channel by buying a model aircraft from AirModels.
09:41There are some affiliate links below.
09:43I will get a small percentage at no extra cost to you.
09:47And meanwhile, thank you very much for watching and see you there.