TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Beijing is concerned about the US’ “Hellscape” drone strategy to defend Taiwan in an invasion but is convinced it has not come to fruition yet, Ian Easton, an associate professor at the US Navy’s China Maritime Studies Institute, said in a CMSI report.
The US Pacific Command first used the term Hellscape in August 2023 to describe what a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would look like in the future, Easton said. That same month, the command announced the Replicator Initiative, which seeks to quickly deploy thousands of drones that could make the hellscape strategy a reality.
On June 10, 2024, PACOM Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo described the hellscape strategy as massive swarms of unmanned weapons targeting Chinese forces, per the report. “I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities so I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything,” Paparo said.
Later that month, Chinese defense ministry spokesman, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, said that “some Americans” wanted to use Taiwan to contain China and flood the Taiwan Strait with drone swarms, calling them “extremely psychotic.” Wu claimed America would end up abandoning Taiwan.
In July 2024, Ren Guozheng, an expert on Taiwan affairs at the PLA Academy of Military Science, wrote that the hellscape strategy was part of American cognitive warfare and the US was trying to scare China with its plans and operations, according to Easton.
A Taiwan affairs program in China discussed the hellscape concept and Replicator Initiative during one episode that same month. The host, Li Hong, said the US was militarily inferior and called Paparo’s remarks “full of provocative intent.” She suggested America was in decline and could not keep up with the PLA.
In August 2024, another military affairs program about the Hellscape concept and Replicator Initiative was aired. Commentators said that US unmanned systems could be easily countered with electronic jamming and cyberattacks. They claimed that PLA air defense units could shoot down the drone swarms.
Despite Chinese propaganda dismissing the Hellscape strategy, many Chinese military experts are taking it seriously and respect its basic idea of using large numbers of cheap drones, seeing it as important for future warfare, Easton said.
In August 2025, the PLA Navy’s top magazine, Navy Today, published an article linking Hellscape to several US Navy advances in different types of unmanned surface vessels. “Its current state of equipment development is comprehensive, focused on actual warfighting, and cutting edge,” it said.
In January 2025, Shipborne Weapons, a China State Shipbuilding Corporation military magazine, called the Hellscape plan a “threat” and said shipborne laser weapons could be a potential countermeasure to swarms of unmanned vessels and unmanned aerial vehicles. It argued that missiles like the Hongqi-9 and Hongqi-16 were too expensive. One shot of a solid-state laser weapon would only cost a few thousand RMB.
Additionally, lasers are not limited by ammunition and are faster and more accurate. They can also destroy anti-ship missiles that are impervious to electronic jamming, the magazine said.
In a Modern Weaponry report, authors said the Replicator Initiative was a work in progress and not yet battle-tested. They said it was “basically still conceptually immature.”
The authors said the US would need to transport huge numbers of drones close to Taiwan, which would strain limited long-distance logistics and put ships within range of PLA missiles. “This means the ‘Replicator’ plan’s large numbers of unmanned systems could be destroyed before they can even be deployed,” the report said.
Easton pointed out that while Chinese propagandists are dismissive of America’s Hellscape plan, Chinese military experts take asymmetric warfare seriously and are worried about the increased US military support to Taiwan. He added that the experts view drone swarms as integral to future warfare.
