Fleet Of Drones Spotted Onboard Chinese Aircraft Carrier Shandong

File image of China's second aircraft carrier, Shandong, being transferred from the dry dock into the water

Images have emerged showing China's second aircraft carrier Shandong carrying what appears to be a fleet of drones onboard its deck. The pictures show two distinct types of drones, underscoring China's recent investment and interest in unmanned technology and AI machine learning.

Though it is unclear where Shandong is, one of the images doing rounds on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo has a CCTV-7 watermark, hinting that it was sourced from a video clip that appeared on the Chinese state television.

The pictures show at least seven UAVs arrayed on the deck of the carrier. While three drones have flat T-tails, the remaining four have inverted-V tails. The drone in the CCTV-7 image was the latter type.

A report by The Drive said the drones seen in the images are the "hybrid" varieties equipped with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) ability. Such UAVs have not only a conventional fixed-wing configuration but also underwing booms with rotors at each end to enable VTOL operation.

The report added while the t-tail varieties appear to be the JOUAV's CW-20, the others could be Xiang Yi CSC-005. However, the drones, though the images are vague, do not look like they are those with high-end unmanned capability. The PLA may have been using them onboard Shandong as part of training or testing related to defending against the growing threats posed by small drones.

Meanwhile, tension continues to mount in the Indo-Pacific region as China deployed bombers to the area near Taiwan and the East China Sea to conduct six-hour-long nighttime bomber flight training Wednesday.

"More than 10 bombers of various types, equipped with weapons, took off in tandem. They reached the enemy location and simulated missile attack exercises," mainland state broadcaster CCTV was quoted by South China Morning Post.

The drills were reportedly carried out to test the PLA Air Force’s mobilization and striking capabilities. The bombers were part of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, which released a statement Wednesday saying its combat-readiness patrols in air and sea territories near Taiwan this week were "necessary action" against "collusion" between Taiwan and the U.S.

"Taiwan is a part of China. The Eastern Theatre Command troops will continue to strengthen training to prepare for battle, raising its capacity to complete missions and resolutely thwart any foreign intervention and conspiracies on Taiwan independence," Shi Yi, Eastern Theatre Command spokesman, was quoted by the news outlet.