Details of a growing family of standard-sized weapon systems appeared on social media, along with video of an EMALS in action
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenLiu ZhenandAmber Wangin BeijingPublished: 11:00pm, 2 Jul 2026Fresh footage has offered the first look at China’s truck-mounted electromagnetic catapult launching a drone, with its developer unveiling details of this large family of containerised weapon systems.The footage shows three eight-wheeled flat-top trucks driving on to what appears to be an airfield runway. Once aligned and connected via mechanical hinges, they form a continuous platform, along which a fixed-wing propeller drone accelerates and takes off.
The Beijing Institute of Technology’s (BIT) school of mechanical engineering posted the video to social media on Tuesday – about six months after the system was first seen aboard the cargo vessel Zhong Da 79 at a Shanghai shipyard.
The late-December sighting attracted much attention, with photographs showing a range of military equipment, including vertical missile launchers, radar sensors and self-defence systems, all integrated into modified freight containers.
The new video also features a scene of the latest containerised modules revealed in Tuesday’s post – including the segmented electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) – being loaded onto the Zhong Da 79.
