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Amber Wang

The Chinese air force is using an AI-enabled system to draw up battle plans for operations involving more than 100 units, according to a state television documentary.
The “intelligent strike planning system” was designed to help commanders and pilots by prioritising targets, coordinating attack waves and allocating specific tasks to units, the CCTV programme broadcast on Sunday said, adding that it had been used “multiple” times.
The rare insight into the use of AI highlights Beijing’s efforts to integrate emerging technology into the People’s Liberation Army’s operations and support a concept known as “system-of-systems” warfare in which multiple platforms and weapons systems are combined.
The aerial warfare system was developed by a team led by Senior Colonel Deng Jianping to support training exercises that have featured increasingly large formations and different types of aircraft.
With “hundreds of targets and dozens of formations” moving at high speed, traditional calculation methods could not keep up, Deng told the CCTV documentary series Zhisheng (Achieving Victory), which was broadcast to celebrate the 99th anniversary of the PLA.
“The hardest part isn’t writing code or building models. It’s thoroughly understanding battlefield logic. Targets, firepower, penetration and damage assessment – the entire strike chain,” Deng said.
He added that if there was even a “slight flaw in the logic”, it could make the difference between victory or defeat.
The programme included footage from a systems test where a large screen at a ground command centre showed missiles launched from different platforms striking targets on land and at sea after the pilots had been ordered to fire.


“In a large-scale air force exercise, over 100 tactical units, relying on the planning of this system, coordinated their attacks, achieving split-second timing. Let software define equipment, define operations and define the battlefield,” Deng said.
On Thursday, President Xi Jinping told a Politburo study session the PLA must “strengthen the military application of unmanned intelligent technologies, deepen the development and application of network information systems, and gradually build an intelligent military system”.
Previous disclosures about the PLA’s use of AI have focused mainly on areas such as drone swarms, rather than systems designed to support large-scale operations involving human pilots.
The United States is also developing AI support systems for the military, but American programmes such as Project Maven differ from the Chinese one by placing more emphasis on battlefield situational awareness and intelligence analysis.
AI could assist decision-making by calculating battlefield developments in real time, assigning the most suitable targets to different weapons and determining when munitions should be used, military analyst Zhang Junshe told Global Times on Monday.
He said this could also improve strike precision and help stop resources from being wasted.


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The support system is designed to support exercises involving ‘hundreds of targets and dozens of formations’, according to state media


The support system is designed to support exercises involving ‘hundreds of targets and dozens of formations’, according to state media.


Artificial intelligence (AI)

Xi Jinping

China’s military

Chinese military unveils AI system to plan and coordinate mass air strikes

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The support system is designed to support exercises involving ‘hundreds of targets and dozens of formations’, according to state media

The support system is designed to support exercises involving ‘hundreds of targets and dozens of formations’, according to state media