China’s Drone Mother Ship Takes to the Skies

China’s drone mother ship is set to make its debut flight this month.

The Jiu Tian — “High Sky” — is a hulking air fortress capable of flying 4,350 miles at a speed of 435 miles an hour.

Of course, speed and maneuverability aren’t its forte.

The aircraft’s defining feature is its ability to carry as much as 6.5 tons of ammunition and up to 100 small drones.  

In a novel concept, the drones deploy from launch bays along each side of the plane’s fuselage.

Its payloads can be swapped out in under two hours, allowing for customizable payloads tailored to the mission at hand — reconnaissance, strike and support, electronic warfare, etc.

Furthermore, paired with AI technology, the UAVs could operate as an autonomous or semi-autonomous swarm, overwhelming traditional missile defenses designed to counter fewer, larger, less maneuverable aerial threats.

This is the kind of war China is preparing for —or maybe more precisely, to unleash on Taiwan.

And it’s been decades in the making.

China has been exploring drone warfare ever since Beihang University carried out the nation’s first successful drone test in 1959. And in that time, it’s built out a sophisticated web of state-run universities and laboratories, manufacturers, and military operators that’s made it the global leader in drone development and production.

Not only that, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the first full-scale, live-fire test bed for real-world drone warfare — has provided invaluable information and experience.

Ukrainian authorities estimate that 80% of the damage to Russia's equipment and personnel so far this year has been done with drones. In May alone, Ukrainian drones destroyed 89,000 Russian targets.

It’s the one area of the war where Ukraine has had the advantage.

Or at least it did before China got involved.

China has been supplying Russia with enough drones and components to effectively turn the tide of the war.

Ukraine produces about 100 long-range drones a day, but with China’s help, Russia has managed to scale up production to 300 per day and is now aiming for 500.

China is also selling scores of DJI Mavic drones to Russia — even though it’s restricted them from Ukraine and Europe.

In return, China is learning valuable lessons about what drones, tactics, and countermeasures are most effective.

For example, using fiber-optic cable instead of radio signals has made UAVs less susceptible to electronic countermeasures. And deploying combat drones with cheaper, useless dummy drones has helped overwhelm air defenses and draw down valuable anti-aircraft ammunition.

China’s military takes this information in and then applies it to the military exercises it routinely carries out around Taiwan. Indeed, UAVs have become a fixture in Chinese war games throughout the Pacific.

And not just with respect to Taiwan.

For decades, China has been trending toward low-cost drone swarms as a means of neutralizing the multi-million-dollar weapons platforms the United States and its allies use to keep order in the Pacific theater.

America has a clear and definitive lead when it comes to raw firepower — aircraft carriers, missile batteries, warships, fighter jets — but China’s drone swarms could undermine all of these sophisticated tools.

Worse, there’s the growing possibility that China could deploy its drone fleet against the United States proper — attacking Hawaii, Alaska, or California.

This is why President Trump’s Golden Dome initiative has suddenly become such a key priority.

And that’s something investors should be focused on, as well. Because the Golden Dome figures to be a multi-trillion-dollar, decades-long undertaking. And one company in particular stands to profit. (You can get all the details on that here.)