Low cost, high carnage: Robot wolves are China’s latest weapons against Taiwan 

“What was the most dangerous 200 metres that soldiers risked their lives to breach is now accomplished by ‘wolfpacks’.”

In late October 2025, a televised report by CCTV-7 — China Central Television’s national defence and military channel — featured the Huangcaoling Hero Company (黄草岭英雄连) of the 72nd Group Army under the PLA Eastern Theatre Command.

The broadcast publicly revealed, for the first time, footage of the Chinese military deploying quadrupedal “robot wolves” in amphibious assault operations, marking a transition in China’s domestically developed amphibious warfare capabilities towards an operational phase of “integrated manned–unmanned combat.”

The Huangcaoling Hero Company, a decorated unit from the Korean War era, is subordinate to the PLA’s 72nd Group Army and is regarded as one of the main combat forces in the Taiwan Strait. The deployment of robot wolves in amphibious combat drills has quickly captured the attention of military enthusiasts on both sides of the strait.

According to the report, during the October 2025 amphibious exercise, the Huangcaoling Hero Company departed from the traditional method of deploying infantry via amphibious assault vehicles for beach offensives, instead employing quadrupedal “robot wolves” extensively in shore assault operations. This demonstrates the formidable combat potential of unmanned equipment.

At the scene of the military exercise, company commander Wang Rui of a PLA Marine Corps brigade told CCTV, “They [the robot wolves] absorb the first wave of enemy fire to open up a safe corridor for the infantry troops.”

Beach assault is always the deadliest aspect of amphibious combat. Traditionally, the infantry troops arriving ashore must advance from open beaches to penetrate inland, under prolonged exposure to heavy enemy fire and at risk of significant casualties. During the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, approximately 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches, and the Allied casualties on D-Day were around 12,000 (including about 4,500 killed). In the Battle of Okinawa (April–June 1945), US forces incurred roughly 49,000 casualties, including about 12,500 killed or missing.

As mainland China has not ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification with Taiwan, the PLA’s amphibious capabilities remain a central focus for military analysts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Given the island’s limited number of beaches suitable for large-scale landings, analysts generally assess that the PLA would be confined to a few coastal fishing villages or harbours conducive to amphibious assault operations. They also gauge the PLA’s amphibious strength primarily by the size and capacity of the forces that could be transported across the Strait.

However, based on the latest footage from CCTV-7, the key focus has shifted from the number of soldiers that could be transported ashore to the number of robot wolves that the PLA could deploy in its beach assault.

Developed by China South Industries Group Corporation, the robot wolf debuted at Airshow China in Zhuhai in November 2024. Six months prior to that, it had already caught the attention of the US Congress, which had asked the Pentagon for an assessment of its potential threat.

The “robot wolves” were later featured in CCTV-7’s “Morning Report on Defence” programme in July 2025, which revealed that the PLA had already incorporated them into combat training. The robot wolves can be integrated into the PLA’s “three-three system”, with two units advancing in front and one following behind. This formation allows coordinated movement with infantry units during leapfrogging and assault manoeuvres, enhancing overall battlefield mobility and flexibility. CCTV-7 described this as “the world’s most innovative infantry combat model”.

However, some Chinese netizens voiced their scepticism, questioning whether the robot wolves possess autonomous judgment and combat capabilities. Others raised the practical concern of first solving the problem of crossing the 150-kilometre Taiwan Strait in order to land on the island.

Despite mixed opinions, the robot wolves made their appearance at the Victory Day parade on 3 September 2025, featured in the formation for unmanned land warfare. The parade commentary described them as unmanned combat vehicles for reconnaissance-strikes, mine clearance, explosive disposal and squad support, which can autonomously function and be remotely operated and flexibly deployed. They represent a breakthrough in coordinated manned–unmanned land warfare.

Indeed, the CCTV-7 video footage in late October 2025 has publicly revealed the deployment of robot wolves in an amphibious landing exercise for the first time.

The video features a command scene in which eight camouflaged, rifle-carrying quadrupedal robots leapt off the rear ramp of a Type 726 air-cushioned landing craft into the sea at the order “Go, robot wolves!”. With covering fire from the amphibious assault vehicles, the landing crafts transported the robot wolves ashore within seven minutes.

The robot wolves went into formation on the beach and dashed across the 200-metre death zone in 28 seconds, performing tactical manoeuvres such as rolling recovery, low-crawl and leaping over obstacles, as well as coordinating with armoured infantry and other unmanned equipment to jointly attack the coastal defence bunkers.

Within 150 metres of the enemy position, the robot wolves locked on their targets with their onboard electro-optical and infrared sensors, achieving a 92% first-shot hit rate.

According to the report, the robot wolves are powered by Huawei’s Ascend 310B AI processors, which enables one operator to control and coordinate eight robot wolves in a cluster. The robot wolves can continue to operate after 30 minutes of submersion in seawater, engage in over two hours of continuous combat, and cover the ground of approximately 10 kilometres, which exactly span the critical stage from beach landing to securing beachheads.

The robot wolves are not just sacrificial decoys in combat. They can carry rocket launchers, ammunition crates, medical kits and communications equipment while advancing with the infantry troops. Each robot wolf can take a maximum load of 20kg, about half the load a soldier typically carries. This frees the troops from being overburdened by ammunition and enables them to focus more on tactical manoeuvres.

Simulated wargames show that the average casualty rate is 17% for a conventional amphibious assault unit in the first wave. With the robot wolves integrated in the unit, the casualty rate drops to 7% and firepower increases by 110%.

On 31 October 2025, renowned Chinese military scholar Wang Yunfei wrote that the reason for widespread attention on the deployment of robot wolves in beach assault is that it symbolises the maturity of the technology from experimental testing to actual combat applications.

Wang explained that the robot wolves use military-grade chips entirely produced in China. This ensures their effective resistance to electronic interference and versatility in battlefield conditions, preventing their incapacitation during battle. Their head-mounted infrared and electro-optical imaging sensors detect enemy troops behind concrete bunkers or inside trenches, and enable precision shots at the enemy with the assault rifles or rocket launchers mounted on their backs.

Beyond assaults, the robot wolves can also transport provisions such as replacement rocket launchers, ammunition, first aid kits and communications equipment in unmanned resupply for the troops. “As the technology evolves and continues to be refined in exercises, the robot wolves will become an amazing and powerful weapon in the PLA’s amphibious and border operations,” Wang predicted.

In addition to deploying the robot wolves, the Huangcaoling Hero Company also uses other unmanned equipment during exercises, including large rotary wing drones for battlefield reconnaissance and vertical bombing, as well as high-speed drones for carrying explosives to target individual soldiers or light combat vehicles.

On 2 November 2025, we-media Dayiwan (大伊万) commented in an article that both these drones have been proven effective in actual combat in the Russia–Ukraine War. As the PLA learns from this experience for land warfare, these drones will definitely play a major role in future beach assaults.

Despite deploying new combat equipment such as drones and robot wolves, the Huangcaoling Hero Company’s assault on the fortified beach was not flawless. While creating a breach corridor with explosives, the robot wolves were destroyed by enemy fire, forcing human demolition specialists to advance and complete the mission manually.

According to the article, the robot wolves currently lack strong protective armour and are merely auxiliary assets for the armoured infantry, serving as scouts or equipment carriers or undertaking demolition tasks. This makes them easy targets for concentrated enemy fire.

Their vulnerability in combat is largely due to insufficient numbers. “Would the outcome be different if we had several hundred robot wolves charging at 30-40km/h, covering a distance of 1,000 metres in about a minute?”

“Equipped with explosive charges and flame throwers, each robot wolf could function as a suicide combat robot — a nightmare for the enemy defence.”

The robot wolves are not the PLA’s only weapon in a potential Taiwan Strait conflict. Another eye-catching weapon is the J-6 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), converted from the retired J-6 jet, which made its debut at the Changchun Airshow in September 2025. Military enthusiasts speculate that the J-6 UCAV could become a secret weapon in a potential Taiwan Strait conflict.

Military expert and former Taiwanese navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih assesses that “a swarm of suicide J-6 UCAVs” carrying the full load of fuel and explosives at fortified positions could cause enormous destruction at low cost.

The J-6, China’s first supersonic jet fighter modelled after the Soviet MiG-19, was the PLA Air Force’s main aircraft for air defence in the 1960s and 1970s, numbering in several thousands. Before the J-6's formal retirement in 2010, many military enthusiasts had suggested recycling them by converting them into UCAVs to be used as surprise attack aircraft in a Taiwan Strait conflict. Deployed in swarms, they could deplete the enemy’s limited number of surface-to-air missiles and provide cover for piloted jet fighters in raids.

For about 15 years since its retirement, the fate of the J-6 has remained shrouded in secrecy. Although observers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have long speculated that it has been converted into UCAV, China’s military has neither confirmed nor denied it. In its earlier analysis of satellite images, Western defence media indicated that large numbers of the J-6 are stationed at airfields in Fujian and Guangdong, suggesting that the PLA has fully upgraded them to UCAVs in preparation for possible deployment in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan’s retired major general Li Zhengjie warns that the J-6 UCAVs pose an enormous threat to Taiwan, “If 2,000-3,000 of these aircraft flew over Taiwan, would that deplete all our surface-to-air missiles in one go?”

China’s weapons for a possible attack on Taiwan are no longer limited to aircraft carriers or amphibious assault vessels. The major trend in recent years is the introduction of unmanned equipment for air, sea and land warfare, aimed at mounting low-cost offensives that overwhelm Taiwan’s defence. In his National Day address in October 2025, President Lai Ching-te has announced increased defence spending to accelerate the building of the T-Dome air defence system. However, it could still struggle to prevent low-cost offensives from across the strait.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party government is also planning to propose a new special defence budget totalling NT$1.3 trillion (about US$42 billion) to build asymmetric capabilities, including various drones, unmanned vessels and unmanned submarines. Going forward, the side that is able to achieve the greatest offensive and defensive impacts at the lowest financial and human costs will continue to call the shots in the military landscape at the Taiwan Strait.

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as ““机器狼”投入台海战场集群抢滩？”.

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