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'Suicide drones' launched from trucks, helicopters tested in China: Report

'Suicide drones' launched from trucks, helicopters tested in China: Report

A file photo of a drone.

China has developed a new "suicide drone" to that is launched in a swarm to hit a target, mainland news reports claimed.

The low-cost drone was commissioned as part of Beijing's military-civilian fusion strategy, an insider from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) told the South China Morning Post (SCMC).

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The developer of the drone tested a swarm of the fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) last month, as per the video released by the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

The video shows kamikaze drones being dispatched from a light tactical vehicle and from choppers.

The SCMC report added that the drone looks similar to the CH-9001, Beijing's first tactical attack drone developed by the government's China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The insider said that the nation had improved drone technologies developed in 2012 and new hardware are used to update these technologies.

The video clip showed how these suicide drones could be promptly deployed to a war zone. These drones that were flying in formation can be launched from both land and air.

Several reports from China and the US have suggested that the PLA may already be using these unmanned vehicles, but the insider said it was still struggling with technical issues.