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Today's Topics:
1. South Korea and the U.S. to Build Navy Underwater Drone
Swarms (Stephen Loosley)
2. China flies Jiutian .. world?s largest unmanned aircraft
designed to deploy 100 drones (Stephen Loosley)
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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 13:52:12 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] South Korea and the U.S. to Build Navy Underwater
Drone Swarms
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
South Korea and the U.S. to Build Navy Underwater Drone Swarms to Counter China
in Indo-Pacific.
13 Dec, 2025 - 12:32 Naval News Navy 2025:
https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2025/south-korea-and-the-u-s-to-build-navy-underwater-drone-swarms-to-counter-china-in-indo-pacific
South Korea?s Hanwha Group and U.S.-based Vatn Systems have reached an
agreement to co-develop low-cost autonomous underwater drones for the U.S.
Navy.
The effort supports Washington?s push for mass scalable undersea systems that
can offset China?s rapid expansion in the Indo-Pacific.
According to Reuters on December 10, 2025, South Korea?s Hanwha Group and U.S.
startup Vatn Systems agreed to jointly develop autonomous underwater drones for
the U.S. Navy as part of a broader push to counter China?s expanding maritime
presence in the Indo-Pacific.
The deal builds on Hanwha?s recent investment in a 60 million dollar funding
round for Vatn and targets the rapid fielding of low-cost torpedo-shaped
vehicles that can conduct both surveillance and strike missions.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Adv: {Ezoic: Hanwha and U.S. startup Vatn advance a new generation of low-cost
autonomous underwater drones, combining Korean naval manufacturing strength
with American swarm technology to deliver rapid deployable undersea effectors
for future U.S. and ROK Navy operations (Picture source: Vatn Systems).]
At the heart of the partnership is Vatn?s Skelmir S6, described by the company
as a Compact Modular Underwater Effector. The man-portable drone weighs roughly
50 to 60 pounds, measures just 6 inches in diameter, and can carry a 10 to 20
pound payload. It sprints at up to 20 knots, with a range of about 20 nautical
miles and an operating depth around 100 meters, trading exquisite endurance for
speed and numbers.
The S6 is explicitly designed as expendable mass. Vatn?s mission software
allows a single operator using an Android Tactical Assault Kit plug-in to plan
and monitor hundreds of vehicles at once, giving commanders a swarm of
autonomous effectors they can launch from shore, small boats, submarines,
surface combatants, or even aircraft. The platform can accept kinetic warheads,
electronic warfare or cyber payloads, and a variety of sensor packages without
demanding deep integration with host vessels.
Cost is central to its operational logic. The S6?s unit price is estimated at
roughly 75,000 dollars, a fraction of the multimillion-dollar figures
associated with larger autonomous undersea systems. In practice, that means a
carrier strike group or Marine littoral regiment could saturate chokepoints
with dozens of Skelmir swarms, creating mine-like ambush zones, screening
high-value units, or hunting enemy submarines with attritable sensors and
torpedoes.
Hanwha brings something very different to the table: the conglomerate is
already a prime supplier of submarines, mine countermeasure systems, and
unmanned maritime vehicles for the Republic of Korea Navy, including autonomous
surveillance AUVs and large anti-submarine UUV concepts built around open
architectures and swarm control. Its experience integrating unmanned platforms
into naval combat systems, plus shipyard capacity in both Korea and the United
States following its acquisition of Philly Shipyard, positions Hanwha as the
industrial backbone that can scale Vatn?s small batch innovation into
fleet-level production.
For Washington, the attraction is obvious. The Pentagon?s Replicator initiative
calls for attritable autonomous systems at a scale of multiple thousands across
domains to blunt China?s numerical advantage. Skelmir style swarms fit that
concept almost perfectly: cheap, fast, hard to track, and survivable in
GPS-denied, jammed littorals where traditional submarines and crewed patrol
craft are increasingly vulnerable. Adding Hanwha as a co-producer also
diversifies the U.S. undersea industrial base and anchors a key ally inside
emerging autonomy supply chains.
Seoul gains just as much. Joint production of Skelmir-based systems plugs
Hanwha directly into American undersea weapons programs and accelerates
technology transfer in autonomy software, networking, and U.S. Navy
certification standards. The same effector family can be adapted for Korean
requirements, from mine hunting and port defense in the Yellow Sea to layered
anti-infiltration barriers around major naval bases, complementing Hanwha?s
larger ASW UUVs and mine warfare USVs.
China has already sanctioned Hanwha after its expansion into the U.S.
shipbuilding sector, and the decision to deepen underwater drone cooperation
with Washington signals that Seoul is prepared to absorb that pressure in
exchange for a tighter defense industrial alliance. For the United States,
putting allied branding and capital on an emerging weapons family strengthens
deterrence messaging and makes it easier to field the same systems with
partners across the Indo-Pacific.
The Hanwha Vatn agreement is worth watching as a prototype of future undersea
armaments: small, fast, software-defined effectors produced in the thousands
rather than the dozens. If the partnership delivers, Skelmir swarms could
become a standard tool for U.S. and Korean naval commanders seeking to create
an underwater hellscape of attritable drones that complicate any Chinese move
from the Taiwan Strait to the Sea of Japan.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:43:35 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] China flies Jiutian .. world?s largest unmanned
aircraft designed to deploy 100 drones
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
China flies Jiutian world?s largest unmanned aircraft designed to deploy 100
drones.
13 Dec, 2025 - 12:33 Defense News Aerospace 2025
https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2025/china-flies-jiutian-worlds-largest-unmanned-aircraft-designed-to-deploy-100-drones
China completed the first flight of Jiutian, the world?s largest unmanned
aircraft, designed as a high-altitude mothership capable of deploying large
drone swarms. The system presents a growing challenge for U.S. forces and
allied militaries across the Indo-Pacific by complicating air defense, naval
operations, and regional deterrence.
China has taken a significant step forward in unmanned warfare with the debut
flight of Jiutian, the world?s largest unmanned aircraft developed by
state-owned Xi?an Chida Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to
Chinese media reports.
Conducted this week in Shaanxi province, the flight showcased a platform
intended to release and coordinate dozens of smaller drones, a capability that
could strain U.S. and allied air defenses operating across the Indo-Pacific
theater.
[Photo caption: China's Jiutian unmanned aircraft, the world?s largest combat
drone, functions as a high-altitude drone carrier capable of deploying over 100
autonomous microdrones in coordinated swarm missions. Designed for saturation
attacks, Jiutian launches AI-powered drones that overwhelm enemy air defenses
through simultaneous, multi-vector strikes, marking a strategic shift in modern
air combat. (Picture source: RupprechtDeino X account)]
While Chinese state media confirmed the flight, official details remain
limited. However, based on open-source intelligence and public displays at the
2024 Zhuhai Airshow, Jiutian is believed to have a maximum takeoff weight
exceeding 20 tons and a payload capacity of 6,000 kilograms.
It features eight external hardpoints for a variety of munitions, including
air-to-air and anti-ship missiles and precision-guided bombs.
What sets Jiutian apart is its internal drone bay, designed to house and deploy
over 100 small drones, including loitering munitions and kamikaze UAVs capable
of engaging ground and naval targets autonomously.
The aircraft reportedly has two high-bypass turbofan engines and an estimated
wingspan exceeding 35 meters, placing it in the size class of a narrow-body
commercial airliner. Its large physical footprint may reduce its stealth
capabilities, but the platform is not built for front-line penetration.
Rather, it functions as a standoff drone launchpad, remaining outside contested
zones while releasing swarms of smaller autonomous drones to execute precision
strikes and conduct electronic warfare at a distance.
At the heart of Jiutian?s disruptive potential lies its swarm deployment
capability. A swarm mission involves dozens or hundreds of drones acting in
coordination, sharing data, adjusting in real time, and operating autonomously
to overwhelm and neutralize enemy defenses.
Unlike traditional UAVs that are remotely piloted and operate individually,
swarm drones use distributed AI to collectively respond to threats, select
targets, and adjust flight paths without direct human input. This collective
behavior makes them harder to intercept, more adaptive to changing battlefield
conditions, and capable of executing complex missions such as SEAD (Suppression
of Enemy Air Defenses), communications jamming, and saturation strikes.
In practical terms, Jiutian can unleash a drone swarm to saturate radar
systems, blind missile defense batteries, or strike command centers with
minimal risk to human operators. When fielded at scale, platforms like Jiutian
could shift the balance of power in contested zones by replacing traditional
manned strike packages with autonomous swarms capable of executing missions
with ruthless efficiency.
For the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, this
development introduces a direct and multifaceted strategic threat.
In a Taiwan conflict scenario, Jiutian could be used to deploy massive swarms
of loitering munitions against airbases, missile sites, and naval ports across
the island. These attacks would be designed to overwhelm Taiwan?s layered air
defense systems in a first-wave strike, enabling follow-on manned and unmanned
platforms to penetrate deeper with less resistance.
Forward-deployed U.S. assets in Guam, Okinawa, and the Philippines would also
be within operational range of Jiutian?s drone-launched munitions. These bases,
critical to any rapid military response in the region, could be targeted by
coordinated drone waves designed to blind early warning systems, disable
communications infrastructure, and destroy key logistics nodes.
Even with robust missile defense systems such as Aegis and THAAD, traditional
defenses may struggle against low-cost, high-volume drone swarms launched from
a platform operating outside standard threat envelopes.
Beyond Taiwan, the Jiutian platform could have major implications in the South
China Sea. Launched from Chinese territory or forward airfields, Jiutian could
be used to assert air superiority over disputed maritime zones by coordinating
drone operations against surveillance aircraft, patrol vessels, and even U.S.
Navy carrier strike groups.
The swarming tactic complicates current naval air defense doctrine, which is
optimized for defending against small numbers of high-value targets, not
hundreds of inexpensive, semi-autonomous drones arriving simultaneously from
multiple vectors.
China?s investment in platforms like Jiutian is also backed by a robust
dual-use industrial ecosystem.
Commercial drone giants such as DJI and Easy Fly Intelligent Technology have
provided the technological foundation for military-grade autonomous systems.
With government support and access to advanced AI and microelectronics, China
has built an industrial base capable of rapidly iterating and deploying drone
warfare platforms that merge civilian innovation with military ambition.
At the same time, the People?s Liberation Army faces internal turbulence.
Recent military purges targeting top leadership in the PLA Rocket Force and
other strategic commands underscore deep-seated corruption within China?s
military-industrial system. U.S. intelligence assessments suggest this
corruption has undermined the reliability and performance of some weapons
systems, particularly within China?s strategic missile forces.
However, unmanned systems like Jiutian appear to be advancing on a separate
trajectory, driven by a less centralized, faster-moving innovation model that
is less dependent on purging legacy hierarchies.
Jiutian is still in its early testing phase and must undergo extensive
evaluation before being integrated into operational service. Yet, if its
capabilities perform as expected, it could become the centerpiece of China?s
next-generation aerial combat doctrine.
In contrast to the U.S. approach, which emphasizes high-value manned systems
like sixth-generation fighters and collaborative combat aircraft, Jiutian
signals a shift toward attritable warfare. This is warfare achieved through
massed, expendable, and networked platforms rather than survivability or
stealth alone.
For the United States and its allies, the message is clear. The future
battlespace will not be defined solely by stealth, speed, or kinetic range.
It will be shaped by the ability to generate, coordinate, and counter
autonomous systems operating at scale.
As China pushes the boundaries of what drone warfare can achieve, the challenge
for democratic nations is to accelerate innovation, develop effective
counter-swarm technologies, and rethink the fundamental architecture of defense.
The new Chinese Jiutian unmanned aircraft is not just a drone. It is a
strategic warning. The era of swarm warfare has begun, and China intends to
lead it.
Written by Alain Servaes ? Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group. Alain Servaes
is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army
Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert
analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense
industry.
------------------------------
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