Image source: topwar.ru
Chinese military and industry researchers describe new techniques for using drones in Ukraine about 4 months after the parties to the conflict began using such techniques. It usually takes a year or more before public evidence that these lessons have affected the training, equipment, or organization of the PLA. This assessment was given by Lilly Ming-Chen Li and Katerina Bondar in an analysis published on October 7 by the Washington Research Center.
The authors studied more than 90 Chinese-language sources published from July 2022 to August 2026 at 45 sites, from the newspaper of the Central Military Council to magazines of rocket, shipbuilding and aviation enterprises. For the five areas, they compared the appearance of a technique in combat, the first Chinese analysis, and the first open evidence of relevant exercises or equipment production. The sample included marine drones, FPV drones with fiber-optic control, interceptor drones, raids on airfields modeled on the Ukrainian operation "Spider Web" and the organization of unmanned units.
According to Li and Bondar, China conducts the most systematic work on the study of this war. It is not only military academies that analyze the lessons: engineers of defense enterprises study them in relation to future weapons and procurement. For example, shipbuilding institutes are looking for ways to protect themselves from marine drones, while missile and aviation organizations are looking for solutions for strikes and air defense.
Defensive lessons are revealed most quickly in the new technique, the researchers note. Chinese developers consider Ukrainian attacks on ships, ports and airfields as possible scenarios for an attack on China. Anti-drone weapons, including lasers and powerful microwave systems, were presented at the Zhuhai Air Show in November 2024 and the military parade in September 2025. The Navy also conducted exercises against unmanned boats.
The authors associate one of the shortest intervals with the Ukrainian operation "Spider Web": On June 1, 2025, drones launched inside Russia attacked strategic bomber bases. About four and a half months later, the Chinese brigade practiced protection against a group of more than 20 drone operators. Li and Bondar compare these episodes, but Ukraine was not mentioned in the report of the Chinese television channel CCTV about the exercises.
The study of experience also concerns the structure of the army itself. The Chinese military press is discussing how to combine individual drone forces with drone units within conventional brigades. Military universities have developed training courses for the management of unmanned systems and the engineering of unmanned vehicles.
At the same time, observing someone else's war has a limit, the authors of the analysis emphasize. China can reproduce technologies and include them in exercises, but it is difficult for it to repeat the cycle of rapid verification and refinement of solutions that occurs in warring armies under the pressure of a combat situation. In other words, the conclusion is something like this: China is learning fast, but without practice, all these lessons may not be particularly effective.
