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Chinese state TV showed armed commandos riding electric skateboards in a combat exercise.
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Naval special forces have also deployed drones designed to flap their wings like an eagle and a sparrow.
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The live-fire exercise was held to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army.
China’s special forces displayed electric skateboards, jet-powered surfboards and other devices in a televised combat demonstration on Thursday.
China’s state Military TV broadcast the live-fire exercise, held at the Nanchang Infantry Academy in Jiangxi, to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army.
In the TV segmentseveral soldiers from the Jiaolong Commandos, an elite amphibious unit of the Chinese navy, were shown riding jet surfboards in a garden lake.
A commando launched a winged drone designed to look like a sparrow.
Later, half a dozen commandos armed with assault rifles emerged from a tree line on motorized skateboards — which a state TV narrator said were electric.
As they sped along a paved road, a commando at the front of the group held a drone designed to look like a giant eagle. The drone finally flew as he launched it into the air while operating the skateboard.
As they entered a compound with shooting targets, one of the soldiers launched a portable drone carried by four small propellers, which crashed into a wall and exploded.
The commandos advanced across a field on their skateboards, dismounting to shoot at targets and launching a flare.
Several then exposed an explosive breach in a plywood structure and recovered a dummy, which they stored in a pickup truck.
The entire team then gathered together and left the area in the truck.
Other televised demonstrations included the use of a jetpack, similar to the one tested by Gravity Industries for the UK Royal Marinesa quadcopter surveillance drone and a remote-controlled drone that destroyed a paper target.
Although not used on a larger scale by other major militaries, personal electric vehicles are beginning to appear in combat zones. Russian military bloggers recently reported that Russian troops in Ukraine I have been using electric scooters move silently between positions.
In Donbass, it was also reported that pro-Russian militias used motorcycles to avoid being spotted by drones.
The fighting in Ukraine has increased interest around the world in cheaper, more versatile weapons such as first-person drones.
The US Army, for example, requested in its fiscal budget for 2025 for US$2.4 billion to develop low-cost drones.
Read the original article at Business Insider
