China’s 5G-Powered Unmanned Army! PLA Bets On 1st Mobile 5G Station To Power Its Robots & UAVs In Warzone

China’s military and telecommunications industries are moving closer together as technology becomes a central part of modern warfare. 

What was once the domain of tanks, aircraft, and missiles is now increasingly shaped by networks, data, and digital connectivity.

For Beijing, the expansion of fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems is not only an economic driver but also a foundation for future combat operations.

A New Tool For The Battlefield

In late 2024, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), working with the ‘China Mobile Communications’ group, introduced what they described as the world’s first mobile 5G base station designed specifically for battlefield use.

According to ‘South China Morning Post’, the unit is built to operate under combat conditions and can serve up to 10,000 users within a three-kilometre radius. It delivers fast, secure, and stable connections even in challenging environments where communications are often most vulnerable.

This military grade system reflects a broader shift. China is building digital infrastructure at a speed and scale unmatched by any other country.

By August 2025, the country had deployed about 4.49 million 5G base stations, meaning more than one-third of all its mobile sites now run on 5G.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has set a target of 4.5 million base stations by the end of 2025 and aims for 85% user penetration by 2027.

For context, the United States has just over 2,00,000 5G sites. The comparison highlights the depth of China’s investment and the strategic advantage it could bring.

Redefining Military Communications

Civilian 5G networks are designed for efficiency and broad coverage, but military demands are different. Soldiers need reliable connections in areas where ground stations may not exist or where satellite links are blocked or jammed. Military grade 5G must also endure conditions that would quickly disable commercial systems.

A peer-reviewed paper published in December 2024 in Telecommunications Science by a PLA research team led by senior engineer Hou Jie outlined how China is addressing these challenges.

The system was tested across multiple environments, including mountainous terrain and dense urban areas. It remained functional even when units were moving at speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour and under conditions of electromagnetic interference.

The platform delivered data throughput of 10 gigabits per second with latency of less than 15 milliseconds, far faster and more responsive than many commercial networks.

Yet there are practical constraints. To avoid obstacles such as trees and buildings, antennas cannot extend higher than three meters, limiting the range of coverage.

To solve this, engineers designed a system in which military vehicles carry three or four drones that serve as airborne base stations. These drones take turns maintaining the signal. When one drone’s battery runs low, it hands off coverage to another and returns to the vehicle for recharging. Testing showed the approach reduced disconnections and slowdowns, offering what researchers described as safe, reliable, and rapid deployment.

Such reliability is not just a technical achievement but a military necessity. The PLA has been expanding its use of unmanned platforms, from aerial drones to robotic dogs, and ultimately envisions a force where machines could outnumber human soldiers.

Operating these systems at scale requires robust networks that can handle vast amounts of data while remaining resistant to disruption.

Coping With Electromagnetic Threats

One of the most difficult challenges for military communications is electromagnetic interference, which can come from enemy jamming or even from friendly forces operating nearby. Hou Jie’s team reported that they had developed methods to counter this threat.

Small soldier carried terminals were designed to transmit at ultra-high power levels, up to 400 megawatts, when under suppression. At the same time, the equipment maintained low energy consumption for normal use, ensuring it could function for extended periods without frequent battery changes.

This balance of resilience and efficiency demonstrates how military and civilian technologies are being merged and adapted. The PLA’s collaboration with China Mobile allowed engineers to draw on the country’s massive civilian network to experiment, scale, and refine new solutions more quickly than would have been possible in a purely military context.

Dual Use Benefits

China’s 5G development is not confined to the battlefield. It is also reshaping the country’s economy. The GSMA, a global industry association, projects that 5G could add about $260 billion to China’s GDP by 2030, driven by applications in the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and smart cities.

These technologies are already being integrated into daily life, from automated factories to connected healthcare systems. For investors, the expansion signals steady long-term growth potential.

The PLA benefits directly from this civilian buildout. By November 2024, China had nearly 4.2 million 5G base stations in place. Less than a year later, the total reached 4.49 million. Analysts suggest that full nationwide coverage will ultimately require around 10 million base stations, according to Zhang Yunyong, former president of the China Unicom Research Institute.

Military analysts see this as part of a larger push toward unmanned warfare. With the communications backbone in place, Beijing can support fleets of affordable drones, robotic ground vehicles, and other autonomous platforms. Reliable 5G allows these machines to operate together in real time, making large-scale deployment feasible.

The US Response

The United States has also recognized the military potential of 5G, launching what it called the largest program to militarize the technology in 2020. But progress has been slower than expected. Technical challenges have limited the pace of development, and current systems remain in the testing phase.

Lockheed Martin, working with Verizon, has developed a demonstration system known as 5G.MIL. In one trial, it recorded a latency of 30 milliseconds when transmitting data between two Humvee vehicles positioned 100 meters apart. While this performance meets US military requirements, it falls short of the standards reported by the PLA, which emphasize far lower latency and greater resilience.

This gap suggests that while the US retains strengths in other military technologies, it is currently behind China in the integration of 5G into battlefield systems. The comparison highlights how telecommunications infrastructure has become a new measure of military capability.

Looking Ahead To 6G

While 5G is still being deployed, China is already preparing for the next step: sixth-generation wireless technology, or 6G.

The MIIT has identified 6G as one of the country’s “future industries,” placing it alongside other strategic technologies in its 2025 development goals.

Though still years away from practical use, 6G is expected to significantly advance beyond 5G. It promises even lower latency, higher reliability, and better energy efficiency. Potential applications include managing power grids more effectively, enabling advanced telemedicine, and improving navigation systems.

China has been active in shaping international standards for 6G. In 2024, it established three benchmarks under the framework of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This early involvement reflects Beijing’s determination to set the rules of the next technological cycle, just as it has done with 5G.

Global attitudes toward 6G remain uneven. According to the Chinese journal Scientia Sinica Informationis, European and American operators are less eager to invest, in part because their 5G networks are less developed. Countries that advanced most quickly on 5G—China, Japan, and South Korea—are now also taking the lead on 6G research.

Strategic Asset

China’s integration of military and civilian telecommunications illustrates how digital infrastructure is becoming a strategic asset.

The PLA’s battlefield 5G systems show how commercial technology can be adapted for combat, while the nationwide network provides the scale needed to support new forms of warfare, including unmanned and autonomous platforms. At the same time, the civilian economy is gaining from the same investments, creating a dual use system that blurs the line between commercial progress and military capability.

The United States and other countries are exploring their own approaches, but China’s pace and scale have given it an early advantage. As 5G matures and attention shifts toward 6G, the contest over wireless standards and their applications is likely to become another arena of competition between major powers.

For now, control over advanced communications is not only about faster downloads or economic growth. It is also about preparing for the next battlefield.