China Showcases AI-Powered Military Vehicles Equipped with “DeepSeek” Model

Shanghai / Beijing:
Artificial Intelligence is no longer confined to civilian applications in China — it is being rapidly integrated into the country’s defence arsenal. State-owned defence firm Norinco unveiled a military vehicle earlier this year that is equipped with an AI system based on the “DeepSeek” model, capable of carrying out autonomous combat-support missions.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing AI-enabled capabilities such as automated target recognition, real-time decision support, and networked drone operations. Chinese officials and defence contractors say DeepSeek represents a major domestic technological advance: the model can reportedly analyse 10,000 combat scenarios in 48 seconds, a task that previously took around 48 hours.

In parallel, Chinese tenders call for fleets of AI-driven robot dogs and drone swarms to perform tasks such as forward reconnaissance, finding enemy positions and neutralising explosive threats. After export restrictions on U.S. chips — notably NVIDIA hardware — Beijing has accelerated a push for domestic hardware and software, training PLA models on locally produced Ascend chips from Huawei under a policy Beijing refers to as “algorithmic sovereignty.” The aim is to reduce reliance on Western technology while strengthening indigenous digital and defence capabilities.

While Chinese officials publicly emphasise that humans will retain control over weapons, analysts warn that the increasing autonomy and speed of AI systems are reshaping battlefield decision-making. The United States has also signalled plans to deploy large numbers of autonomous drones by 2025, underscoring a global move toward automation in warfare. The growing prominence of systems like DeepSeek suggests future conflicts will be fought not only with munitions but increasingly with code, data and algorithms — changing strategy, tempo and command dynamics on the battlefield.