From battle to cleansing, expo showcases China’s drone dominance

Unmanned aerial automobiles of all sizes, antennaed detection units and anti-jamming devices straight out of a science fiction film have been on show on the Drone World Congress because it opened within the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.

Chinese corporations’ supremacy spans modern new roles from agriculture and infrastructure to army purposes.

The high-flying machines depend on small, highly effective magnets and different key elements which might be broadly out there in China’s manufacturing ecosystem and unparalleled elsewhere by way of effectivity and selection.

“When you need to get any component, you have hundreds of different options (in China),” stated exhibitor Javier Balaguer from Spain-based enterprise consulting and companies agency Applus+ Laboratories.

“If you… have direct access to them, it will be much easier,” the 30-year-old drone specialist informed AFP.

Over 1,200 corporations have been collaborating within the expo, based on organisers, plying their wares to the tens of 1000’s of attendees there for a startling number of motives.

One of essentially the most high-profile makes use of of drones just lately has been in warfare, with the machines that includes closely within the Ukraine battle.

Beijing says it helps authentic civilian use of drone expertise, and has applied “dual-use” export controls to stop weapons proliferation.

But the often-overlapping applied sciences for business and army functions create a gray zone that’s tough to implement — particularly throughout borders.

One participant from Russia, who declined to offer his title or affiliation, informed AFP he was on the Shenzhen expo to search for drone “interceptors”, with out giving extra particulars.

Several cubicles away, AFP spoke to 3 Ukrainians, together with one who stated drone expertise has turn out to be an “everyday necessity” because the warfare started.

“China dominates the whole supply chain”, particularly in sure magnetic components which might be tough to supply from inside Ukraine, one of many males stated, additionally declining to offer his title.

Counter-drone tech trending

AFP spoke to overseas attendees from the European Union, the Middle East and Southeast Asia on Thursday, drawn to Shenzhen’s prowess for the whole lot from infrastructure upkeep and aerial monitoring to racing occasions.

Organisers stated they anticipated this 12 months’s attendance to be 150,000.

Applus+ Laboratories’ Balaguer informed AFP that the dimensions of the occasion has multiplied every of the final three years he has attended.

This 12 months, the brand new development is counter-drone expertise, he stated.

The basic supervisor of Chinese agency Yinyan General Aviation, Wu Yingjie, informed AFP that her work includes the deployment of “drone countermeasures” alongside China’s worldwide border.

Wu’s agency is predicated within the southwestern metropolis of Nanning, lower than 150 kilometres from Vietnam.

Drone countermeasure applied sciences have been used for detection, reconnaissance and combating unauthorised flights, she stated.

“It was because of the Russia-Ukraine war that the world saw the drone countermeasures industry,” she added.

“Drones play a very important role in low-altitude security.”

Seeking inspiration

Among the busiest cubicles on the expo Thursday have been these of China’s — and the world’s — business champions.

DJI was one clear star of the present, its centrally positioned shows thronged with crowds of contributors.

The Shenzhen-based agency, established in 2006, has held greater than two thirds of the worldwide business drone market in recent times, research with various estimates present.

Booths of much less well-known corporations showcased the various vary of drone applied sciences out there, together with “anti-jamming” units, “sound recognition”, “infrared thermal imaging” and “laser countermeasures”.

Others provided industrial purposes like lifting heavy payloads, which might be used, for instance, to string energy strains on tall towers.

Luca Musiolik, CEO of Germany-based industrial drone agency DroneShine, informed AFP that he was there to be taught concerning the newest drone-powered industrial cleansing applied sciences.

“You don’t really have any competitors in Europe or any innovation coming out of Europe,” stated Musiolik, 21.

“So we’re just really trying to get inspired by the technology, a bit like China did with the German car industry.”

© 2026 AFP