A large part of the network is developed by a state-owned company, which supports work in 4 Chinese universities with ties to 7 British universities.

China uses the so-called "military-civil integration" strategy, which includes universities playing a central role in maximizing the country's military might.

The main research institution is the National University of Defense Technology, in Hunan, which is controlled by the military and specializes in hypersonic, unmanned aircraft, supercomputers, radar and navigation systems.

It has links with 8 British universities, including official collaborations with a world-famous teaching bench.

Eight other British universities have ties to the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which spends 60 percent of its research budget on defense activities.

The Beijing government is developing swarms of "suicide" drones to fly in the sky while locating their targets - while communicating with each other and coordinating their movements without any human intervention.

This marks the next era of robotic warfare, in which autonomous weapons replace existing drones that must be pre-programmed or remotely controlled.

The United States and Israel are also working on such technology, while Britain also tested a squadron of 20 drones last month with sorties from the RAF.

Advanced technology uses computer algorithms, often modeled on biological studies of insects and fish, to create unmanned autonomous swarms.