The Chinese military has a new toy: the Jiu Tian 'drone mothership'. The drone mothership could launch up to a hundred smaller drones from the air. Peter Wijninga, defense specialist affiliated with the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS), would not be surprised if we see more of these drone motherships in a few years.

The drone mothership can unleash drone swarms that could overwhelm air defenses. In addition, the drone could be used in various types of missions, such as secure transport, border surveillance and defense, and rescue operations.

According to him, the Jiu Tian can certainly play a role on the modern battlefield. 'If you look at the battlefield in Ukraine, you see that most casualties are caused by drones. That means that drones can also be very effective in ground combat. Drone swarms could certainly contribute to that. A mothership that flies to the battlefield and then releases drone swarms could also be a possibility.'

He states that in the event of a possible attack by China on Taiwan, the Jiu Tian could also pose a serious threat to the Taiwanese. 'Taiwan will absolutely try to shoot such a mothership out of the sky, but it is still questionable whether that will succeed. The Chinese can disrupt the Taiwanese radar, and perhaps the drone has stealth capabilities, so that it is less visible on the radar. That would go a long way.'

According to him, it is only a matter of time before more of these motherships appear, both at sea for sailing and flying drones and in the air for flying drones. 'Most Russian ships have been sunk by Ukrainian sea drones; that is a sign of what the future will look like.'