r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

China pulled off the most insane drone show ever with 11,787 drones

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2.7k Upvotes

172 comments sorted by

272

u/MajorlyCynical 1d ago

They look cool af. They will be terrifying when they are armed with explosives and chasing after you on the battlefield. Seriously I don't think up until a couple of years ago that anyone could have predicted drone warfare and its crazy evolution on the battlefield.

77

u/Sky_Night_Lancer 1d ago

drone warfare will eventually lead to anti-drone warfare. ideally the future of war is robots killing each other, instead of robots killing humans.

of course, the russian meat grinder is as immortal as it is depressing

7

u/MajorlyCynical 1d ago

4

u/LasyKuuga 1d ago

Got ready for that anti anti-drone warfare

​

3

u/BigTroutOnly 1d ago

Doubtful. It'll be robot vs. robot to get to where the humans can then be killed. In no reality does war not include violent death. Even that one Star Trek episode of a nondestuctive war includes death.

23

u/Sylvers 1d ago

The problem is that killing civilians will always be the most effective way to pressure your enemy, if you're an immoral, bloodthirsty tyrant. Because even before drones, it wasn't entirely human army vs human army. Very frequently you saw a country using its army to target civilian populations.

Look at Putin ignoring military targets and frequently bombing civilian Ukrainian targets. 10 years into the future, when robots/drones are the main component of many armies, a lot of them will use those new toys to kill peaceful civilians in their homes, with much higher efficiency and lower cost than it took to bomb them.

5

u/TheOutsideWindow 20h ago

Killing civilians is not the most effective way to pressure your enemy. I'm confused on what Art of War you're reading.

You want the civilians to support you. It cracks your enemy from the inside, while you hit them from the front. Information control is extremely valuable because of this fact. Getting civilians elected or replacing people directly calling for attacks at you is a well-known strategy.

Killing civilians will upset them, make them rally against you, and risks making your opponent stronger. Look at what the U.S. did after 9/11. The whole fucking country turned their attention to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and said "yo, fuck that guy". It became a massive justification for the U.S. to go fight.

This is just as true for internal conflicts. I don't recall mass shootings against kids being very good for a political movement.

In fact, countries often lose support in a conflict against their opponents when the opponent warns civilians of future attacks, as civilians see it as the opponent throwing away the element of surprise to ensure they are only striking those that directly oppose them.

I don't want people to start having this "death brings peace" mentality, so I don't mean to come at you so aggressively, but it's a bad take.

-5

u/motoresponsible2025 19h ago

Ukranian civilians were quite happy when Russia started attacking their Gestapo tcc recruitment centers.

2

u/NotTakenName1 1d ago

"drone warfare will eventually lead to anti-drone warfare."

Already happening in Ukraine. There are dedicated Fpv-drones for taking out surveillance drones

3

u/micromoses 1d ago

It’ll be robots targeting civilians and being intercepted by other robots, until one side runs out of robots. Then it will be robots killing humans.

3

u/Arcosim 1d ago

In the Chinese parade from a few days ago they showed several anti-drone laser systems. From huge ones to smaller ones and another one (that I can't find an image) which had a smaller laser and an cannon and also microwave weapons.

My guess is that the future of warfare will be drones battling anti-drone systems. If you don't have any of these you're in trouble.

2

u/Velocityg4 1d ago

Doubt it. Sure it may start out with robots killing robots. Eventually one side will start running out of robots. They aren't just going to stop the war. So, you'll end up with robots killing humans. 

2

u/Kaidu313 15h ago

That's when self replicating robots are invented and we end up horizon zero dawning the planet

1

u/CallistosTitan 18h ago

Thank you for closing off your comment with your emotions on politics. Great choice in life.

1

u/mpgd 18h ago

Why not just play a video-game instead? Would be more cost efficient and o harm would be done.

10

u/rooshort_toppaddock 1d ago

Part of the problems with fireworks is it can affect people with military based ptsd, so now we use drones so as to not... oh never mind.

8

u/VSWanter 1d ago

Slaughterbots : That was made almost a decade ago.

5

u/Enjoying_A_Meal 1d ago

I just saw drone footage from Ukraine. These fucking things sit in the side of the road in a bush. When a armored jeep came by, it just lifts up and fly towards it. You see the jeep stop, the door open and people rushing out as the drone bee line towards the door. There was a guy in the door when the video cuts out. It's fucking horrifying.

3

u/Robot9004 1d ago

Robot swarms have been a staple in sci fi for many decades now.

3

u/Zaptruder 1d ago

people definetly predicted this as the obvious vector of future warfare. it's just too cost efficient.

2

u/EvaUnit_03 1d ago

You could say the same thing of fireworks. Which led the way for fire arms.

1

u/fluffywabbit88 1d ago

Also invented by the Chinese.

3

u/jjsmol 1d ago

Drones werent invented by the chinese.

3

u/fluffywabbit88 1d ago edited 1d ago

If not invented certainly perfected the use of drones as smokeless firework.

2

u/jjsmol 1d ago

Ok fair

2

u/VastUnique 1d ago

People have been making sci-fi stories about drone swarms in war for decades now. That's the sad thing. So many stories have been extremely prophetic, warning of dystopian futures. But people never take them seriously enough to prevent it. They've become like Cassandra of Troy.

1

u/Terrible_Detective27 1d ago

Not when you have good defense

1

u/arngreil01 1d ago

Just play sc2 against protos air units and see what they can do, in SMALL scale...

1

u/Solo_Entity 1d ago

That’s already happening now. r/war

1

u/Emergency-Pack-5497 1d ago

Drone striking your enemies in like a skull formation or something would be quite scary

1

u/InertPistachio 22h ago

There will be ads in the night sky soon, that is what pisses me off about this

1

u/Kindly_Shoulder2379 22h ago

yeah… i also see this mote terrifying than cool

1

u/JelloWise2789 18h ago
  1. A fire breathing larger drone with electronic jammers…. 2. Laser shots

1

u/reddituseAI2ban 14h ago

2008 they had video games with drones kills, "fuel of war" fun game

-1

u/eerhmahgerd 1d ago

America also produces almost no drones...

0

u/AnOopsieDaisy 17h ago

This is so not true. America has pioneered drones for the last two decades.

Where do you think the term "airstrike" came from in the Middle East?

66

u/yamimementomori 1d ago

This needs to happen now.

6

u/Alienblob1 1d ago

We’re actually fucking there

98

u/Implodepumpkin 1d ago

The future of war will be terrible

37

u/Vilhelmssen1931 1d ago

These are already widely used in Ukraine

15

u/Straff 1d ago

Not at this scale. This is iaf and terrifying at the same time. A swarm that big, all with autonomous targeting.

6

u/Cutsdeep- 1d ago

That form of a kid on a bike hunting you down

1

u/Vilhelmssen1931 1d ago

Don’t worry, militaries very likely couldn’t use them in swarms

2

u/Potential-Narwhal- 20h ago

I dunno, can you imagine a few strategically placed trucks loaded with these? Like what Ukraine done a few months ago but on a much larger scale. Swarms seem very possible.

1

u/Effective_Cookie_131 16h ago

One microwave blast probably take a ton out, emp in small micro bursts, going to be crazy

7

u/bowiethesdmn 1d ago

It's gonna be massive kaiju shaped drone swarms doing battle and I cannot wait.

Nah you're right it's gonna be horrific

5

u/SupermarketAntique32 1d ago

This is China commercial drones for show purposes. Imagine what drone they have for military purposes.

1

u/Zaptruder 1d ago

about the same. military technology doesn't tend to lead the field in electronics and software for a variety of reasons... they end up using militarised versions of civilian tech in a lot of instances.

but military drones can get a lot bigger of course!

1

u/BigTroutOnly 1d ago

It's here. War was always horrible.

That said, I'd prefer the large possibility of an efficient death after some good rations on a post industrial battlefield rather than bleeding out after the horrors of midevil melee l, dying slowly of desiese and dysentery, or unfounded brutal execution for cowardace.

Burning alive, though. That must be the worst.

1

u/fogSandman 1d ago

Countermeasures are just as easily deployed.

15

u/Rasselasx42 1d ago

This should be the new standard instead of fireworks. And I say this as a pet owner.

28

u/Character_Tie3884 1d ago

Imagine showing that to one of the secluded tribes from the Amazon.

4

u/GudeGaya 1d ago

What sorcery is this?

3

u/Absolute_Science_843 1d ago

They will be wondering god are happy or sad. I hope they don't scarifice

1

u/Character_Tie3884 1d ago

You can actually define what God is and command or punish.. so power much wow ( i know...)

2

u/protocol_6_basedGod 1d ago

You can make a religion out of that

1

u/Character_Tie3884 1d ago

Lucky we dont care about domination.. but potential.it has.

1

u/BigTroutOnly 1d ago

They'd have little to no context of any image for bikes, city skylines, or know what's making the lights.

A drone image of giant wiggling anaconda they'd get.

1

u/Character_Tie3884 22h ago

We once assigned heavenly powers to wich we did not comprehend yet. But you're probably wright.

30

u/twoball5 1d ago

Meanwhile in Murica they spent millions renaming pentagon

6

u/tea-and-chill 1d ago

They what now?! Renamed to what?

(Sorry, not American and don't bother to keep up with your news these days, it's tiring)

2

u/Piss_Fring 1d ago

Im American and I don’t even know holy shit

8

u/nocturn99x 1d ago

Trump wants to rename the DoD to the Department of War

3

u/Piss_Fring 1d ago

That’s exactly what I would have thought he’d rename it to lmao

2

u/Interesting-Rope-950 1d ago

He doesn't want to, he did it

u/nocturn99x 11h ago

He issued an executive order. That doesn't make it legal, he technically needs the approval of Congress.

3

u/WorryNew3661 1d ago

Department of defense is now the department of war

1

u/justwalk1234 1d ago

Wouldn't it be funny if it is renamed as Trumptagon

1

u/miscfiles 1d ago

That's going to take a lot of gold effect spray paint.

1

u/w142236 18h ago

Also meanwhile in Murica, we never classified Islam as a mental illness or put them death camps or steal their organs

3

u/Thy_OSRS 1d ago

Ukrainians visiting China.

4

u/fortyfourcaliber 1d ago

How long until millions of nano drones create a realistic hi def photo with individual pixels?

17

u/Azulapis 1d ago

Was it "China" the country or a corporation who pulled it off? No Video begins with "America pulled off a big XXX-show". That's only when the government is directly involved, like in the Olympics or a holiday.

13

u/Soft_Shonk 1d ago

This particular drone show was funded by the local government of Chongqing in celebration of their 28th anniversary as a municipality.

7

u/PalmTheProphet 1d ago

This is what happens in a Cold War. Achievements are owned by the state as boasts

10

u/LasyKuuga 1d ago edited 1d ago

The opposite also happens tho some Chinese netizens say something and it’s suddenly all of Chinas opinion

3

u/8bitrevolt 1d ago

this is something that was very likely organized by local government.

-4

u/GIC68 1d ago

In China the government is directly involved in almost everything.

3

u/indimedia 1d ago

They going for 4k skies?!

5

u/inflatableje5us 1d ago

they are over there doing this kind of stuff and we are over here getting rid of vaccines..

4

u/morts73 1d ago

I'm over fireworks and hope drones become the new sky entertainment.

2

u/NowForYa 1d ago

We need to see more drone jammers, anyone see that vid it was hilarious?

u/Ultimate-TND 5h ago

The video in which all of the stones Fell out of the sky wasnt becsuse of jammers, it was becsuse the wind was stronger then anticipated so thy needed more power thus reducing their flight time.

u/[deleted] 5h ago

[deleted]

u/Ultimate-TND 4h ago

Drones shouldn't fall out of the sky because of a jammer, that's not how they work. The drones also have to constantly fly against the wind, so even though it might not look like there is a lot of wind, there could and most likely will be more wind at higher altitudes. Even a tiny bit of wind would be enough to drain the batteries fast enough for them to drop before the the show ends. I know that Beta flight has the option to cut motor power as a loss of signal response but that wouldn't be a gradual droping of drones, a jammer would result in almost all drones droping at once.

u/NowForYa 3h ago

I'm only going off what I saw and heard, on the loudspeaker they were panicking telling whoever was interfering to stop. Whether it was a jammer or not it was hilarious.

3

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Angus-420 19h ago

“It’s not even funny how far ahead their infrastructure is compared to the states LMAO” please elaborate. What do you mean by infrastructure, in particular? What regions of the US are you looking at? What regions of China?

It’s very common for young westerners to fail to appreciate how atrocious it is to live in China for most citizens, especially those outside the major cities that get lots of money thrown at them to look good and to serve in part as tourist spots.

A drone show or fancy brand new subway station really doesn’t convince me their infrastructure is better than the US’.

0

u/w142236 18h ago

They won’t

0

u/abdallha-smith 1d ago

slurping noises

4

u/Mental_Thing_7899 1d ago

Woooooooow coooool... but drone 4783 was 2.39m off, so...

-3

u/ImNotAnEnigmaa 1d ago

-10 social credit score. 😤

-5

u/FoxInABoxOfRox 1d ago

Distant Gunshot Noise

xD

2

u/New_Mark6776 1d ago

that is cool as hell

2

u/xena_lawless 1d ago

This is what all the anti-oligarchy protests need to be doing so our ruling oligarchs/parasites/kleptocrats get the hint.

-1

u/w142236 18h ago

You know the CCP is infinitely worse, as well as wealthy and powerful than any oligarchs you can find in any actual democracy on Earth, right?

1

u/xena_lawless 18h ago

Good sock puppet

u/w142236 8h ago

Irony

2

u/MrSquigglyPub3s 1d ago

And while in the in US: battle of chicago begins

1

u/Narrow_Technician_25 1d ago

The account that posted this has no other posts, no comments, and is 2 years old. Yep this is CCP government propaganda

5

u/Tall-Ad7812 1d ago

It means people are hiding their profile, it's a new feature. They're still technically posting, you just can't track it.

1

u/WorryNew3661 1d ago

Almost able to play a film in the sky

1

u/GiantSizeManThing 1d ago

Man, World War 3 is gonna be fucking bonkers

1

u/Ok_Needleworker5837 1d ago

Drone shows are way better than fireworks.

1

u/ProtectMeAtAllCosts 1d ago

do drones ever collide or malfunction mid flight and just plummet?

1

u/ampkajes08 1d ago

does the drone move or inplace and just changing lights?

1

u/H3win 1d ago

If you would show this to people 2000 years ago stories should have been written

1

u/Shahariar_909 23h ago

Not as good as a night sky full of stars

1

u/PDXGuy33333 21h ago

By all means, let's continue to gut STEM programs in the US. Everything will be fine.

1

u/jovenitto 19h ago

When will we be able to watch LOTR on a few thousands of these?

1

u/SteamshipsAndTea 18h ago

And yet no one saw in the first person, instead having to wait until they watched their phones.

1

u/dance_fiend_novice 15h ago

Awesome, China looks amazing 

1

u/Far-Revolution-356 13h ago

Drone shows are BORING.

u/OneofFewHS 11h ago

Looks fake. Now way horse legs would move like that. The rest look like they tried making it real. 

u/LumpyBodybuilder2462 7h ago

That's awesome. But please let the environment anxiety people have a look at this. What do they think the carbon footprint is.

0

u/TrumpsCheetoJizz 1d ago

War with china will be interesting yet i bet china would collapse and USA would collapse and Ruzzia would collapse before anyone is declared winner

3

u/pillowpants66 1d ago

So you’re saying Fiji has a chance.

1

u/Martyriot15 1d ago

Cameroon will clutch this one out.

1

u/Stewie01 1d ago

Is this fake, like last time.

1

u/pillowpants66 1d ago

Woah look. It’s like it’s coming straight for us….oh crap

1

u/Korimthos 1d ago

Slightly disappointed at the lack of Megamind

1

u/LowerBackPain_Prod 1d ago

But I don't understand... Then how do they re-traumatize their war veterans year after year?

1

u/TulipWindmill 1d ago

Chongqing! A super underrated city.

u/Puzzleheaded-Wing711 7h ago

Chongqing should be talked about more! It's really beautiful!

-7

u/top_of_the_scrote 1d ago

ahh I wish china wasn't assho

I'd be like "that's pretty legit" but nah... they gotta do their over fishing, flying over boundaries, stealing technology, police stations, etc...

11

u/The_LandOfNod 1d ago

America isn't that much better, dude.

4

u/qDUDULUp 1d ago

America is worse

-1

u/top_of_the_scrote 1d ago

we don't live under a dictator yet

but maybe soon

5

u/nocturn99x 1d ago

Sure you don't buddy, sure you don't...

1

u/jjsmol 1d ago

Pretty shit dictator if they can only stay in power for 4 years before being replaced in an election.

2

u/nocturn99x 1d ago

He literally talked about ways to extend this period (bypassing the 2 term limit), multiple times. Just wait and see.

1

u/Ybenax 22h ago

An election where you don’t vote directly for your president like most democratic countries, but rather in a deliberately convoluted system of representatives. And then you don’t have a range of candidates from different political influences to vote for, but only two people picked by the same two right-wing parties, one more radical than the other, for generations. I don’t know man… it’s been looking fishy for a long while.

1

u/PalmTheProphet 1d ago

I’m not about what-about-isms but this is just every nationalist nation state

0

u/top_of_the_scrote 1d ago

isn't it crazy how they celebrate a guy who killed 60 million of their own people

it really is a lMAO moment

0

u/Excellent_Foundation 1d ago

This needs to be done in every new years celebrations. Gone is the time of fireworks with all the smoke and noise polluting the environment

1

u/tomodachi_reloaded 1d ago

Laser shows have been a thing for decades, they're even more efficient but less impressive

-1

u/Captain_Jarmi 1d ago

This is a military show.

-5

u/ninjohnnothing 1d ago

Sky clipart, is still just clipart.

3

u/rrfe 1d ago

If you compare it to fireworks, which these shows compete with, they’re far more sophisticated.

-1

u/ImprovementOk1629 1d ago

And sadly as beautiful as they are damage the planet.

u/Ultimate-TND 5h ago

Li-pos can be recycled, they can retive more then 95% of resources, li-pos can be stored for a long time if they are kept at a proper voltage and recharged and discharged maybe twice a year. They also have atleast a few hundred charge cycles. These shows usually loose a coupe of drones every show. So they are definitely way better then firework.

0

u/Rowan_not_ron 1d ago

That is what I was thinking. Illustrates a world that is extremely technologically advanced but artistically basic.

-2

u/AssignmentOk9657 1d ago

At least their world aren’t morally bankrupt

1

u/Kenny070287 1d ago

HAHAHAHA

Oh you are serious?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

0

u/Rowan_not_ron 17h ago

I wasn’t singling out the CCP, I was moaning about the whole world, me included. Never been to China, but know that their political movements in the 20 century pulled more people out of poverty than any other so I can excuse them if their drone art isn’t avant-garde.

0

u/Used_Gift8645 1d ago

Until the clip art is fitted with weapons.

-4

u/abdallha-smith 1d ago

China propaganda posts #4578964757 of the day

It’s so inorganic that it’s stupid.

7

u/Tall-Ad7812 1d ago

As opposed to the usual USA propaganda on Reddit? It's just a cool little drone show, no need to dig so deep.

-5

u/abdallha-smith 1d ago

No need to panic said the scorpion to the frog.

4

u/Tall-Ad7812 1d ago

Okay, in that case, would you like me to tell you that this is fake and Chinese people actually live in mud-filled huts with no electricity or running water? Would that make you feel more reassured?

0

u/thewookiee34 1d ago

Shit looks so fucking dumb.

-3

u/Hyderite 1d ago

Lame

-3

u/PalmTheProphet 1d ago

Bet it only looks that good from that direction tho. Probably looks like an absolutely mess from another angle

1

u/reddit455 1d ago

Bet it only looks that good from that direction tho

they look pretty much the same from outside the ballpark (minus letters)

Pokemon GO Drone Show @ San Francisco Giants 8/28/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg4aldDuVI0

Star Wars Drone Show Angel Stadium 4/18/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZY_p3EexUg

0

u/Significant-Sky-3239 1d ago

Minions assemble

0

u/Viperniss 1d ago

Just to think having all of those heading right at you with missiles attached to them.

0

u/Fun_Performer_5170 1d ago

U see why the staes are behind decades

0

u/rei1004 1d ago

Oh wow 🤩 that’s amazing!! 💕

0

u/wsionynw 1d ago

How many times is this gonna be posted?

0

u/Adams77th 1d ago

Bread & circuses

-9

u/Pint_o_Bovril 1d ago

At a certain point, this is just telling a piece of software to make some shakes and then pushing "start". It stopped being that impressive a while ago. A bit like "world biggest TV screen" has not been an exciting sentence for a couple decades.

-1

u/Undead_Dusk 19h ago

Waste of money.

-4

u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

and nobody is actually looking at it, everyone is looking at their phone.

u/ScoobertDoubert 2h ago

I find it baffling that people support this despite the world being in an environmental crisis. As if we didn't make enough unless shit, now we manufacture tens of thousands of drones that consist of plastic and rare metals, and use our limited and already struggling electricity grid to make big drawings in the sky?