China mulls perfecting drone swarming technique for military use, which defence experts say might change future combat strategies. After a record-breaking formation of 1,000 drones performed at the Guangzhou air show on the Chinese Lantern Festival last weekend, military experts predicted that the swarming technique applied in drones might change future combat strategies, state-run Global Times reported Tuesday. The drone formation set a new Guinness World Record for the most drones participating in one aerobatic show. Watch what else is making news: The drone formation requires advanced visual and communications equipment, besides the application of the swarming technique it quoted an unnamed expert as saying. The large-scale drone formation is a new trend, and for military use there are higher standards for drones, Wang Yanan, chief editor of the Aerospace Knowledge magazine said. Wang said the swarming technique has great potential in the military field. "If the technique becomes mature enough, it will change the way wars are fought," he told the daily. "The swarming technique is likely to introduce changes in the structure of drones by installing mission payload modules on multiple mini drones," it quoted an unnamed official as saying. This distributed system is hard to be destroyed, he said. The drone swarming technique might be integrated into all weapon systems - satellite, combat aircraft or ground equipment, Wang said.
