In a study published in Jan 2024, researchers at 
Shanghai Jiao Tong University showed how AI could be used to deploy weapons systems in automated “kill webs” that would adjust in real time to battlefield changes during combat at sea. 6 days later, China’s military announced that the university had won a defense contract to make the idea a reality.
It was the 7th public defense contract to develop or maintain AI-related systems that Shanghai Jiao Tong had signed since the start of 2023. The university would go on to land seven more before 2024 was out. Aside from the maritime kill-web project, the school was also tasked with helping the military track fast-moving targets using layered AI models, rapidly generate underwater drone designs and make drone swarms more sensitive to changes in radio frequencies.
China’s military has gone outside its typical network of state-owned defense contractors and military-linked research institutes in recent years, tapping hundreds of suppliers including private companies and civilian universities in a push to incorporate AI into its operations and weapons systems.
To promote civil-military fusion, China allows for public bidding on a portion of its defense contracts, including for sensitive systems that the US and many other militaries keep secret.
Among the vendors that won multiple AI-related contracts from the PLA in 2023/24, more than 85% are private companies, civilian universities and other entities not traditionally considered part of the Chinese defense industry, and they won a majority of the contracts. The vast majority aren’t subject to US sanctions. (There were classified procurement bids for AI systems that the PLA wanted to keep hidden.)
The biggest bid winner is iFlytek Digital, an offshoot of AI voice-recognition firm iFlytek which was blacklisted by the US in 2019. Most of the 20 contracts signed by iFlytek Digital, which now exists as a separate entity and therefore isn’t subject to the US blacklist, involved data processing and analysis.
Though the PLA tends to rely heavily on state-owned defense giants to build its drones, private companies are making inroads there. One of them is Sichuan Tengden Sci-Tech Innovation, maker of the TB-001 “Twin-Tailed Scorpion,” a heavy strike drone spotted in recent years flying near Okinawa and Taiwan. Founded in 2016, it won 7 contracts.
The concept of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s maritime kill-web project was developed and tested by researchers at Jiao Tong’s School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering with engineers from a national lab and state-run defense institute in Wuhan.
According to their paper, the idea was based on a US-developed theory of “decision-centric warfare,” which focuses on making fast, effective choices to keep an enemy off-balance. They described using adaptive algorithms to form a model of a maritime battlefield based on data from radar, sonar and other information sources, then using that model to coordinate military assets such as missile systems and drones to eliminate targets, with constant adjustments based on changes on the battlefield.
To test their idea, the researchers simulated an enemy missile attack. In a “high-intensity scenario” with 31 enemy targets, the system generated kill webs made up of dozens of drones in an average of 2.26 seconds, they wrote. It was able to present commanders with multiple options, but could also be configured to automatically implement the one it considered most optimal.
A week after winning the contract to build the system, Shanghai Jiao Tong won a second contract to develop a database to support it. It wasn’t clear from the contracts how much Jiao Tong was paid for the projects or whether they were completed.
wsj.com/world/china/ch
cset.georgetown.edu/publication/pu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University showed how AI could be used to deploy weapons systems in automated “kill webs” that would adjust in real time to battlefield changes during combat at sea. 6 days later, China’s military announced that the university had won a defense contract to make the idea a reality.
It was the 7th public defense contract to develop or maintain AI-related systems that Shanghai Jiao Tong had signed since the start of 2023. The university would go on to land seven more before 2024 was out. Aside from the maritime kill-web project, the school was also tasked with helping the military track fast-moving targets using layered AI models, rapidly generate underwater drone designs and make drone swarms more sensitive to changes in radio frequencies.
China’s military has gone outside its typical network of state-owned defense contractors and military-linked research institutes in recent years, tapping hundreds of suppliers including private companies and civilian universities in a push to incorporate AI into its operations and weapons systems.
To promote civil-military fusion, China allows for public bidding on a portion of its defense contracts, including for sensitive systems that the US and many other militaries keep secret.
Among the vendors that won multiple AI-related contracts from the PLA in 2023/24, more than 85% are private companies, civilian universities and other entities not traditionally considered part of the Chinese defense industry, and they won a majority of the contracts. The vast majority aren’t subject to US sanctions. (There were classified procurement bids for AI systems that the PLA wanted to keep hidden.)
The biggest bid winner is iFlytek Digital, an offshoot of AI voice-recognition firm iFlytek which was blacklisted by the US in 2019. Most of the 20 contracts signed by iFlytek Digital, which now exists as a separate entity and therefore isn’t subject to the US blacklist, involved data processing and analysis.
Though the PLA tends to rely heavily on state-owned defense giants to build its drones, private companies are making inroads there. One of them is Sichuan Tengden Sci-Tech Innovation, maker of the TB-001 “Twin-Tailed Scorpion,” a heavy strike drone spotted in recent years flying near Okinawa and Taiwan. Founded in 2016, it won 7 contracts.
The concept of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s maritime kill-web project was developed and tested by researchers at Jiao Tong’s School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering with engineers from a national lab and state-run defense institute in Wuhan.
According to their paper, the idea was based on a US-developed theory of “decision-centric warfare,” which focuses on making fast, effective choices to keep an enemy off-balance. They described using adaptive algorithms to form a model of a maritime battlefield based on data from radar, sonar and other information sources, then using that model to coordinate military assets such as missile systems and drones to eliminate targets, with constant adjustments based on changes on the battlefield.
To test their idea, the researchers simulated an enemy missile attack. In a “high-intensity scenario” with 31 enemy targets, the system generated kill webs made up of dozens of drones in an average of 2.26 seconds, they wrote. It was able to present commanders with multiple options, but could also be configured to automatically implement the one it considered most optimal.
A week after winning the contract to build the system, Shanghai Jiao Tong won a second contract to develop a database to support it. It wasn’t clear from the contracts how much Jiao Tong was paid for the projects or whether they were completed.
wsj.com/world/china/ch
cset.georgetown.edu/publication/pu