In China, there are considerations to equip combat robots with weapons of mass destruction, reports the South China Morning Post.
According to the media, during recent drills by the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLAA) focused on urban warfare, it was demonstrated that unmanned platforms equipped only with light weapons face difficulties in eliminating enemies hiding in buildings or underground shelters.
In response to these challenges, Chinese military scientists have proposed outfitting ground robots with thermobaric warheads—weaponry of mass destruction, second only to nuclear weapons in lethality. This weapon would enable the “total destruction” of the enemy.
The newspaper notes that this is the first official disclosure of China’s plans to deploy such munitions on unmanned systems. Thermobaric weapons operate in two phases: first, a flammable aerosol is dispersed, which is then detonated, creating a “fireball” with temperatures reaching up to 2500°C, capable of destroying targets within an 80-meter radius and penetrating bunkers up to four meters thick.
Military experts suggest that powerful artificial intelligence systems, such as DeepSeek, may change the structure of warfare, and in the future, killer robots could become an integral part of combat operations.
