Skyward
China Studies Predators to Train AI Drones
As global militaries sprint through the AI arms race, China is leaning into a strategy that sounds less like a defense white paper and more
China
Export controls, the Shenzhen supply chain, and the geopolitics of the world’s drone-manufacturing superpower.
574
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Reporters on beat
Sep 28
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DJI
DJI’s former sales VP detained in China on bribery charges, accused of “huge” illicit gains
Chinese authorities have criminally detained DJI’s former Vice President of Sales on suspicion of accepting bribes during a five-year tenure that coincided with the drone giant’s most turbulent period of global regulatory pressure. The executive, identified only by surname Yuan, oversaw DJI’s entire global sales operation from May 2019 through May 2024. The detention was…
China
China’s Wing Loong X Eyes Global Buyers
At the recent Singapore Airshow, China brought its aviation fireworks. Front and center stood the sleek J-35A, posed like a stealthy supermodel under bright expo lights. But over at the massive booth of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, something quieter sat with far more realistic export potential. The new Wing Loong X, as reported by…
Weaponized drones
Egypt’s HAMZA-3 kamikaze drone can fly 1,100 miles and fake a jet’s radar signature
The HAMZA-3 has a trick most kamikaze drones don’t: modular Lüneberg lenses that inflate its radar cross-section to mimic a fighter jet. Enemy air defense systems burn through expensive interceptor missiles on a drone that costs a fraction of the aircraft it pretends to be. The HAMZA-3 fills the gap between FPV kamikaze drones and…
Ukraine
Chinese Drone Assembly Lines Headed to North Korea
A Chinese automation company is openly promoting a drone assembly line reportedly bound for North Korea, raising serious questions about export controls and compliance with United Nations sanctions. According to NK News, a video posted on Douyin shows an employee of Jiangsu Nengtai Automation Equipment presenting a fully built drone production line inside its factory…
Department of Defense
Pentagon DIU wants containerized drone launchers that store, launch, and recover swarms on command
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) just published a solicitation for something the U.S. military has needed for years but never had: a box that can store drones, launch them in mass, recover them, recharge them, and do it all over again with almost no humans involved. The program is called the Containerized Autonomous Drone…
Department of Defense
SkyFoundry Act Aims to Fix America’s Drone Shortfall
The SkyFoundry Act to confront this gap head on, and the proposal has now been folded into the latest National Defense Authorization Act.
China
China’s Hybrid CH YH-1000S Drone Could Shift Taiwan Logistics
China has completed the maiden flight of the CH YH-1000S, a hybrid powered unmanned transport aircraft that could reshape how the People’s Liberation Army sustains forces in contested environments like the Taiwan Strait, as SCMP reports. According to China state media, the CH YH-1000S first flew over the weekend from an airport in Chongqing, marking…
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