Russia-China Joint Sea 2026 Exercise to Feature Unmanned Systems

QINGDAO, July 6. /TASS/. The Russia-China Joint Sea 2026 exercise will focus on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and naval drones, Chief of the Joint Sea 2026 Exercise from the Russian side, Rear Admiral Sergey Sinko said.

"As a specific feature of the current drills, they involve a considerable number of unmanned systems and uncrewed boats. In particular, the exercise envisages the scenario of fighting unmanned systems," the rear admiral told reporters.

"This is a very important issue and considerable time will be devoted to it during the exercise," he added.

This year, the Russia-China naval exercise will address a broad range of tasks, including joint maneuvering, artillery firings on targets, anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue operations, and also measures to practice communications. During the maneuvers, the naval sailors from both countries will practice rescuing a submarine crew, he specified.

The Russia-China Joint Sea 2026 exercise will run in the Yellow Sea on July 6-13. The Russian Navy is represented in the naval drills by the Pacific Fleet’s Guards cruiser Varyag, corvette Rezky, diesel-electric submarine Ufa and rescue vessel Igor Belousov. The Chinese Navy is represented by the destroyers Anshan and Kaifeng, the frigate Wuhu, a Yuan-class diesel-electric submarine, the comprehensive replenishment ship Kekexilihu and the rescue vessel Yangchenghu.

The Russian and Chinese naval sailors supported by naval aircraft at sea will refine the skills of joint rescue operations, practice anti-submarine and air defense objectives and conduct joint artillery firings. At some stage of the drills, they will train to rescue the crew of a notional submarine in distress with the help of a submersible vehicle.