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Is China building a fleet of drone motherships to extend its naval reach?

Is China building a fleet of drone motherships to extend its naval reach?
South China Morning Post Monday 19 October 2026, 14:00 UTC By Gabriel Dominguez 1 min read
Key Points

A second unusual Chinese vessel suspected of being designed to launch and recover large underwater drones has appeared in Guangzhou, raising questions over whether Beijing is developing a fleet of specialised motherships to extend its undersea operations beyond coastal waters. The smaller vessel, seen under tow on the Pearl River in images circulating online, resembles a ship about 200 metres long seen at a Shanghai shipyard last month that has since been launched. Both feature conspicuous...

A second unusual Chinese vessel suspected of being designed to launch and recover large underwater drones has appeared in Guangzhou, raising questions over whether Beijing is developing a fleet of specialised motherships to extend its undersea operations beyond coastal waters. The smaller vessel, seen under tow on the Pearl River in images circulating online, resembles a ship about 200 metres long seen at a Shanghai shipyard last month that has since been launched. Both feature conspicuous...
China (LOCATION) Chinese (ORG) Guangzhou (LOCATION) Beijing (LOCATION) the Pearl River (LOCATION) Shanghai (LOCATION)
Originally published by South China Morning Post Read original →

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