（Hsiao-Huang Shu, Associate Research Fellow, Division of Chinese Politics, Military and Warfighting Concepts, Institute for National Defense and Security Research）
There is a long history of Chin’s “military-civil fusion (MCF).” China’s military industry is primarily state owned, supported by private industry and incorporating into the military industry chain through MCF. Xi Jinping proposed for the first time to elevate the MCF as a national strategy in a military plenary meeting of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the 3rd Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) in March 2015. Then the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee decided, on 22 January 2017, to establish the Central Military-Civil Fusion Development Committee, chaired by Xi Jinping, to uniformly lead the profound development of MCF.
China tries to avoid the obstructions and sanctions of the US and the West through MCF to conduct illegal transfer of its key military and business technologies. As MCF could intensify China’s defense innovation and promote the development of emerging capability, China will continue to enhance MCF to overcome serious and persistent deficiencies in its military procurement as well as research and development (R&D).
But there are also many technology and industry benefit from the dual-use approach like drones, robots, launch vehicles, microsatellites, etc. In addition, China also expects breakthroughs in the emerging areas of priority like biology, space, networks, biochemistry, and ocean, etc. For instance, the Deepinfar, a company developing defense and commercial underwater robot systems has cooperated with Tianjin (Binhai) Civil-Military Integrated Innovation Institute as partners, with the latter keeping a long cooperation with the Academy of Military Sciences. Seven universities have long collaborated with the PLA, including Beihang University (BUAA, formerly as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics), Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Harbin Engineering University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology, offering long-term support to military projects. There are also several universities actively participating in MCF projects and receiving long-term subsidies from the PLA. It shows that more and more companies and universities ae engaging in MCF with ultimate goal of supporting defense development.
China’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, also known as drone) industry has the supports across the range of state- and private-owned enterprises as well as university research teams. It includes Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) that supports PLA’s UAV development through its subsidiaries such as Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, and Weifang Tianxiang Airlines Industry Co., Ltd. The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) that makes cruise missiles and ballistic missiles also develops UAV through its Third Academy; The 9th and 11th Academies of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) are responsible for the development of UAV avionics, guidance, navigation, control systems and system engineering; China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a provider of electronic subsystems, sensor payloads, and electronic warfare equipment, is developing UAV electronic warfare through its 27th research institute responsible for UAV system development. Technology universities are also involved in the research. According to a study by the Project 2049 Institute in 2013, several universities are engaging in the development of military grade UAVs. For instance, UAV Research Institute of the Northwestern Polytechnical University, also known as 365 Institute, designs products like ASN-106 and ASN-209; the UAV Institute of Beihang University is responsible for the projects of BK-005 and Changying (Long Eagle) UAV; the UAV Institute of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is responsible for the design of Changkong (Long Sky) UAVs and BZK-002 unmanned helicopters.
The missions of China’s UAVs consist of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance; precision strike missions; electronic warfare missions; and information relay missions. The UAV industry is one of the major projects of the MCF. Based on the three-step plan of “shortening the gap, forming a system, integrating air and space” to develop UAVs as a “new growth point” to strengthen the combat capabilities of the Air Force; the Army also integrates UAVs into combat system such as assisting army aviation in aerial reconnaissance and long-range fire, assisting guiding UAVs with concepts of incorporating reconnaissance and strike together, auto pilot with artificial intelligence (AI), and loyal wingman. China often showcases its large UAVs still in service or under development in many public events, presenting the achievements of its aviation industry, some of which have been applied by the PLA while others are for exporting to expand its international influence. In the military demonstration of 2019, China has showcased military weapons like GJ-11 and WZ-8 UAVs.
The Zhuhai Air Show is also a stage to showcase China’s UAV products, featuring with a wide variety. For instance, the stealth GJ-11 drones, similar to the US X-47B with bended-wing-body configuration, possess excellent stealth capabilities; the supersonic WZ-8 adopts a similar concept of the D-21 supersonic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft developed by the US Air Force in 1960s. Others include WZ-7 large drone which features a diamond-shaped wing design to shorten the wingspan while maintaining sufficient wing surface for high-altitude and long-endurance. It is powered by a turbojet engine and equipped with optical-electronic or radar fairings on the nose, capable of conducting long-duration reconnaissance similar to the US Global Hawk. The Rainbow-6 features a stealth appearance with two jet engines protruding from the fuselage, made for missions requiring long-duration flight such as reconnaissance and strike integration, maritime anti-submarine warfare, and aerial patrol. The Rainbow-7 adopts a fully-wing stealth design. The FH-97, developed by the Ninth Academy of CASC, also adopts a stealth design equipping with a bomb bay.
Popular products in the UAV line up include Wing Loong, Rainbow, Soar Eagle, Sea Eagle, Fly Loong, and FH- series. The unmanned helicopters include Blowfish and Golden Eagle, and the supporting models include the Sharp Eagle and Hummingbird series. Among them, the Rainbow series is developed by the China Aerospace Aerodynamics Research Institute; Wing Loong and Sharp Dragon series are designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute under AVIC; The HY-30, featuring small size and long-duration flight suitable for all-terrain operation, is produced by UAV Research Institute of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. There are other contributors including subsidiaries of AVIC and institute of higher education like Beihang University.
The significant technologies of UAV include autonomous capabilities, stealth configurations, system integration, all-purpose and multi-function UAVs, swarm drones and loyal wingman concepts. China might integrate UAVs with artificial intelligence (AI) to launch autonomous attack with hundreds of stealth drones in case of communication interruption or interference, or the drones could be remotely controlled by fighters or helicopters to penetrate enemy’s heavily defended airspace to grind down enemy’s air defense weapons or to strike its political and military center under heavy protections.
China has applied its drones of all types to conduct “gray zone” harassment operations in the airspace around Taiwan, including harassments in the East China Sea, South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Theses drones include Rainbone-4, BZK-005, and TB-001, and in 2022 new-model drones like KVD-001 and Wing Loong-10 also appeared. Obviously, the harassment operations are of verification significance of long-duration flight, satellite positioning and guidance and automatic route planning.
The KVD-001 drones of the PLA Army have a flight speed of 140 kilometers per hour, with a maximum operation radius of 200 kilometers and flight duration of 10 hours. It could help helicopters conduct reconnaissance in the battlefields and has appeared in the airspace of southwest Taiwan, probably in verification of its maritime operation capability. The Twin-Tailed Scorpion (TB-001) is the largest and in service drone produced by Sichuan Tengden Corporation, having a maximum flight range of 6,000 kilometers with the capability of integrated reconnaissance and strike. TB-001 is often seen in long-range flight in East Taiwan.
The BZK-005 (Long Eagle) is a large, long-duration and multi-purpose UAV, designed by the UAV Research Institute of Beihang University and produce by Beihang Tianyu Changying UAV Company, a subsidiary of AVIC Harbin Aircraft Industry Group. It has a cruising speed of 130-180 kilometers per hour, service ceiling 3,000 to 7,000 meters, and a maximum flight duration of 40 hours, capable of carrying optical-electronic, radar, reconnaissance and communication relay equipment which enable it to conduct long-duration reconnaissance, surveillance, ground attack, and battle damage assessment.
Wing Loong-10 is also a large UAV, powered by turbojet engine, capable of carrying various weapons to conduct integrated reconnaissance and strike mission; BZK-007, being converted from a civil small aircraft with cockpit remodeled into satellite antenna, is produced by Guizhou Aviation Industry Corporation and can conduct long-duration reconnaissance and surveillance of up to 16 hours.
In addition, China also conducts reconnaissance of military facilities around Taiwan and its off-shore islands with small drones. In case of conflicts between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the PLA could use huge amounts of UAVs to conduct missions of integrated reconnaissance and strike, intelligence reconnaissance and surveillance, precision strike, electronic warfare, communication relay and even suicide strikes for anti-radiation. Therefore, China’s UAVs have posed serious threats to Taiwan.
The focus of military-civil fusion also includes long-duration drones for battles. In a document titled “Proposal for Advanced-Research and Industrial Engineering Projects on Military-Civil Fusion Equipment: Small Long-Duration UAV Technology" in 2017, it indicates that China is developing military drones through MCF. These small and long-duration UAVs are used for missions like battlefield reconnaissance, information transmission, communication and military operation. The Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission has issued several information regarding the development of UAVs through “the annual guide for the 13th Five-Year Plan for advanced research and common technologies in 2017.” They include efficient aerodynamic configuration design, high aspect ratio lightweight wing structure design, efficient power systems, platform integration design, together with auto pilot, anti-jamming, and anti-interference systems, which hadn’t been equipped to the UAVs in 2017.
The document reveals the MCF projects of drone development which include small and long-duration flight drone design, image mission systems, controllable recovery systems, low-resistance configuration surface design, high-efficiency hybrid power, high-gain information collection systems, AI sensor integration systems; it also reveals “ to build a new technical renovation system integrated with industry, academia and research with enterprises as the main body collaborating with Nanyang University of Science and Technology, School of Aeronautics of Zhejiang University, School of Computer Engineering of Beijing Union University, and Hebei University of Technology , to accelerate the integration of projects R&D and engineering technology and economy as a whole. It also states the concepts of US advanced UAV and demands to contend with the US products; if not possible, then directly reproducing theirs. Wing Loong1 and Rainbow 4/5 are similar to the MQ-1 of the US, and Soar Dragon to the RQ-4 Global Hawk large drones. These China-produced “similar looks” to US drones have taken over global markets with low-cost advantage, triggering discontent among UAV powers like the US and Israel. The DJI drones have taken a majority share of the global market, posing a great threat to the US by this “military-civil strike” approach. And its high military value demonstrated in the Russian-Ukraine War has drawn wide concerns.
Due to the increasing innovations of UAVs, China has applied them in military-related areas, leading to the wide application of drones in military and diverting commercial applications for military uses. It has posed threats to China’s neighboring countries including Taiwan with growing military application of China’s drones, a negative effect brought by its MCF strategy.
（Translated to English by Tracy Chou）
