China’s special forces showcased electric skateboards, jet surfboards, and other gadgets in a combat demonstration televised on Thursday.
The state’s China Military TV aired the live-fire exercise, which was held at the Nanchang Infantry Academy in Jiangxi to commemorate the People’s Liberation Army’s 97th anniversary.
In the TV segment, several soldiers from the Jiaolong Commandos, an elite amphibious unit under the Chinese navy, were shown riding jet-powered surfboards in a garden lake.
One commando launched a winged drone designed to resemble a sparrow.
Later, a half-dozen commandos armed with assault rifles exited a treeline on powered skateboards — which a state TV narrator said were electric.
As they sped down a paved road, one commando at the head of the pack held a drone designed to look like a giant eagle. The drone eventually flapped away as he hurled it into the air while operating the skateboard.
As they entered a compound with firing targets, one of the troops released a handheld drone carried by four small propellers, which rushed into a wall and exploded.
The commandos advanced through a field on their skateboards, dismounting to shoot targets and throwing a flare.
Several then showcased an explosive breach on a plywood structure and retrieved a dummy, which they stowed onto a pickup truck.
The entire team then gathered and departed the area in the pickup.
Other televised demonstrations included the use of a jetpack, similar to one tested by Gravity Industries for the UK’s Royal Marines, a surveillance quadcopter drone, and a remote-controlled drone that ripped through a paper target.
While not used on a wider scale by other major militaries, personal electric vehicles are starting to appear in combat zones. Russian military bloggers recently reported that Russian troops in Ukraine have been using electric scooters to move quietly between positions.
In the Donbas, pro-Russian militias were also reported to be using motorcycles to avoid being spotted by drones.
The fighting in Ukraine has heightened interest around the world in cheaper, more versatile weapons like first-person drones.
The US Army, for example, asked in its fiscal budget for 2025 for $2.4 billion to develop low-cost drones.
