China develops integrated air, land, and sea drone swarm networks

China is advancing its drone-swarm technology from large formations of identical aircraft toward an integrated combat network capable of coordinating uncrewed systems across air, land, and sea domains.

The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) Intelligent Technology Research Institute describes these swarms as intelligent, distributed systems where individual platforms communicate, coordinate, and make local decisions to generate collective capabilities. While China has made significant progress with homogeneous swarms—large numbers of similar drones—the next frontier involves managing heterogeneous swarms comprising different types of uncrewed platforms.

Field tests have demonstrated that these systems can autonomously reconfigure networks, close formation gaps, and continue missions despite individual unit losses, communication disruptions, or electromagnetic interference. However, researchers acknowledge that maintaining resilience while integrating different types of uncrewed systems across multiple domains remains a significant technical challenge.