China has started building the world’s biggest test site for unmanned vessels at one of the country’s gateways to the South China Sea.

When completed, the Wanshan Marine Test Field would cover 771.6 sq km and be the biggest of its kind in the world, the report said.

Unmanned vessels can be used in both peacetime and war, for surveillance and to tackle dangerous situations without putting personnel at risk.

Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the project was “in line with the overall aims of promoting scientific and technological innovation that benefits the country militarily and economically”.

“While the South China Sea is part of the picture, this new test range isn’t just designed for this dispute. With this test range China can trial a whole range of unmanned vessels, both for its own use but also in no small part for export,” Koh said.

Click here to view the full article