China Unveils Army Of Drones (VIDEO)

WATCH: China Unveils Army Of Drones

China has unveiled its new fleet of robotic drones.

The unmanned aerial vehicles can be used in a variety of situations, including military reconnaissance and engaging targets via a human operator.

Video of the unveiling at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition has been released, showing a growing fleet of robotic machines.

Among the new machines is the Pterodactyl ('Wing Loong'), which is similar to the US MQ-9 Reaper, used in Pakistan.

Defense News said the designs were "influenced" by the original US aircraft, whereas other journalists went further, labelling the machines virtual copies.

However the new Wing Loong does have one thing on its side: price. The drone reportedly costs about $1m - 30 times less than the Reaper.

It has a range of 4,000 km and can fly for 20 hours.

Needless to say the US isn't too happy about this.

"In a worrisome trend, China has ramped up research in recent years faster than any other country," said the US Defense Science Board, in July, in a report highlighted by the New York Times.

"It displayed its first unmanned system model at the Zhuhai air show five years ago, and now every major manufacturer for the Chinese military has a research centre devoted to unmanned systems."

Wired has all the details, but you can see video of the drones above.

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