China Accelerates Training of Drone Operators as Fleet Expands Rapidly

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has reportedly accelerated training of plots for unmanned aircraft and other vehicles, launching professional drone operator courses at its academies including the Army Engineering University of the People’s Liberation Army. This follows specific orders from leader Xi Jinping in July to improve the country's drone warfare capabilities. A growing number of drones in PLA service has reflected massive investments in the field, with China having emerged as a leading drone manufacturer worldwide both quantitatively and qualitatively. This has included a number of designs without analogue world wide, ranging from the WZ-8 hypersonic surveillance drone and GJ-11 radar evading strike platform to the Soar Dragon anti shipping and reconnaissance drone. The PLA is also investing in unmanned ground vehicles, ships and submarines, which combined with a massive growth in unmanned aircraft las led to a rapidly growing demand for operators. The need for operators is expected to decline over the coming decade, with China emerging as a world leader in artificial intelligence technologies which are expected to be able to autonomously pilot a number of existing and future drones - with the Dark Sword unmanned fighter currently under development expected to heavily depend on such technologies.