China showcases AI-powered military arsenal in “cognitive era” Victory Day parade

China showcased its most advanced military capabilities during yesterday’s Victory Day parade in Beijing, revealing unprecedented integration of artificial intelligence across its arsenal. The display confirmed China’s transition into what experts call the “cognitive era” of warfare, where AI-driven systems operate at machine speed across air, sea, and land domains.

The big picture: China’s military modernization has reached a tipping point where autonomous systems and AI integration define operational capabilities rather than supplement them.

• Many parade systems were overtly autonomous, including loyal wingmen drones and reconnaissance platforms with AI-driven flight control, mission planning, and sensor interpretation.
• The breadth of AI integration spans from individual weapon guidance to factory-level production automation, creating what analysts describe as “scale over sophistication.”

Key debuts: Several headline systems appeared publicly for the first time, signaling major advances in China’s military capabilities.

• The J-35 stealth fighter flew in both naval and land-based configurations, with more airframes revealed than previously known to exist, indicating low-rate initial production has begun.
• The J-15DT electronic warfare variant features cognitive jamming capabilities, operating with AI subsystems that drive adaptive responses at machine speed.
• The DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missile showcased China’s modernized nuclear triad, reportedly carrying 10-14 maneuverable reentry vehicles designed to evade missile defense.

Autonomous warfare systems: Counter-drone capabilities highlighted AI’s critical role in managing complex battlefield scenarios.

• Integrated gun-and-missile trucks, high-energy lasers in the 30-100 kilowatt range, and microwave emitters rely entirely on AI for target tracking and classification.
• Maritime systems included the AJX-002 undersea drone and stealth surface vessels designed for autonomous patrol, minelaying, and cable interdiction missions.
• These platforms must operate independently since continuous communications would expose their positions.

Manufacturing advantage: AI integration extends beyond weapons to production capabilities, creating industrial-scale advantages.

• China’s missile and aircraft factories employ predictive maintenance, robotics, computer vision, and logistics optimization powered by AI.
• The PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile, which reportedly downed seven Indian aircraft in May, emerges from highly automated facilities rather than traditional workshops.
• This manufacturing approach enables production of “millions of small unmanned aerial systems, hundreds of thousands of missiles and drones, and thousands of loyal wingmen.”

Historical accuracy: Western skepticism about parade authenticity contradicts China’s track record of operational deployment.

• Over the past 25 years across five major parades, only a handful of showcased systems failed to enter service.
• Notable exceptions include the WZ-2000 reconnaissance drone and ASN-229A strike UAV, but these represent rare cases rather than the norm.
• The overwhelming pattern shows systems displayed at Tiananmen Square transition into active squadrons, brigades, and fleets.

What this means: China’s approach redefines modern military competition through distributed, AI-enabled capabilities operating in concert.

• Recent conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and Iran demonstrate that sophistication without scale proves meaningless in sustained warfare.
• Any nation confronting China will face coordinated swarms of autonomous systems rather than individual advanced platforms.
• This represents a fundamental shift toward “Hyperwar” where machine-speed decision-making becomes the primary competitive advantage.