28 February 2026

China’s Military AI Wish List

Emelia Probasco, Sam Bresnick, and Cole McFaul

In analyzing these requests for proposal (RFPs), the authors find that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing AI-enabled capabilities across all domains. The applications include decision support systems (AI-DSS), sensor enhancement tools, data fusion algorithms, and much more.

The RFPs reflect China’s desire to generate, augment, and fuse increasing quantities of data to speed military decision-making and improve the precision and efficacy of the PLA’s operations. Specifically, the authors found requests for AI-DSS that can leverage open-source data for strategic decision-making. They also came across requests for AI-DSS to support tactical decisions, such as for targeting. While many militaries are investing in AI-DSS, these systems are of particular importance to the PLA, which views them as a means of compensating for perceived weaknesses in its officer corps.

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