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China explores unmanned tank technology

22nd March 2018 - 09:15 GMT | by Gordon Arthur in Hong Kong

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CCTV-7, a Chinese state-owned military channel, recently showed television footage of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) testing an unmanned Type 59 medium tank.

Described as the PLA’s first unmanned tank, the imagery showed a soldier seated at a standalone console jerkily driving a nearby tank. The console had a steering wheel, two video screens, a mouse and presumably accelerator and brake pedals, but little else in the way of other buttons.

The tank was equipped with additional antennas to facilitate communication with the control station. The testing is apparently being done by the Laboratory of Unmanned Combat Systems belonging to

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Author

Gordon Arthur

Gordon Arthur was the Asia Pacific editor for Shephard Media. Born in Scotland and educated …

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