This Article is From Mar 21, 2018

China Trials Unmanned Tanks In Latest Modernisation Push

State television showed images this week of the unmanned tanks undergoing testing, the Global Times newspaper reported. The tank was a type 59 tank.

China Trials Unmanned Tanks In Latest Modernisation Push

Chinese military is including new machines to its force as Xi Jinping looks to help strengthen its power

Beijing, China: China is testing unmanned tanks which could be equipped with artificial intelligence, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday, as the country continues with its military modernisation programme.

State television showed images this week of the unmanned tanks undergoing testing, the Global Times newspaper reported.

Footage showed a Type 59 tank being driven by remote control, in what the paper said was the first time a Chinese-made unmanned tank has been shown in a public forum.

The Type 59 tank is based on an old Soviet model first used in China in the 1950s and has been produced in large numbers and has a long service life, it said.

"A large number of due to retire Type 59 tanks can be converted into unmanned vehicles if equipped with artificial intelligence," Liu Qingshan, the chief editor of Tank and Armoured Vehicle, told the newspaper.

Unmanned tanks will be able to work on other unmanned equipment, integrate information from satellites, aircraft or submarines, the report added.

China is in the middle of an impressive modernisation programme for its armed forces, including building stealth fighters and new aircraft carriers, as President Xi Jinping looks to assert the country's growing power.
© Thomson Reuters 2018


(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
.