China’s status as a military superpower was on full display as Beijing marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Tens of thousands of troops, tanks and armoured vehicles moved through Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, along with a fearsome array of missiles. Fighter jets soared overhead.

While ostensibly a day to mark the decades since the end of the world’s biggest war, it’s clear that Xi Jinping was looking towards the future in the message he sent to the West.

“They want to advertise to the world that they’re doing old and new,” military analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News. “So they were showing the enormity of what they’ve got in in traditional terms, but also some of the new things.”

Indeed, the event featured many weapons and equipment that had never been seen in public before.

In this story, Sky News looks at what units and military hardware were on display in the Chinese capital.

Land forces

Huge numbers of soldiers from various wings of China’s armed forces made up the bulk of the parade, marching in perfect lockstep in neat rows.

As well as the traditional elements from the army and navy, the procession also featured newer pieces like the cyberspace unit.

The new unit is in charge of cybersecurity defence measures, the Xinhua state news agency says, and also took part in live-fire drills.

Another new unit was the information support force, which was created in 2024 to build network information systems to support military combat readiness.

Nuclear triad on display for the first time

Also rolling through the square were an array of missiles, including those that form China’s strategic nuclear capability.

For the first time, Beijing unveiled its nuclear triad of air, land and sea-based missiles.

This included the JL-1 air-based long-range missile, JL-3 submarine-launched intercontinental missile, DF-61 land-based intercontinental missile, and the new type DF-31 land-based intercontinental missile.

The weapons are China’s strategic “ace” power to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and nation’s dignity, according to Xinhua.

China is one of four countries known to possess a nuclear triad, along with the US, Russia and India.

Other missiles on display included hypersonic anti-ship missiles that China has previously tested against mockups of US aircraft carriers, such as the Yingji-19, Yingji-17 and Yingji-20.

“These are designed to frighten the United States,” Mr Clarke says, with reference to the Pacific Ocean where US warships patrol from their 7th Fleet headquarters in Japan.

Read more:
Analysis: President Xi’s message to the West
How China’s parade compares to other military spectacles

Drones and robot wolves

China also put a number of its unmanned weapon systems on display, evidence of the changing nature of modern warfare.

Arguably the most interesting were the so-called ‘robot wolves’.

There were also underwater drones such as the AJX002, a long, black tube-shaped craft that looks like a narrow submarine with a rear propeller.

The military also showed off unmanned helicopters that are designed to be launched from ships.

Like other militaries, China has also been developing laser weapons to defend against drone attacks – one of which was on display today as well.

As attack drones get more advanced – and numerous – a counter drive to develop cheaper ways of shooting them down is ongoing.

“The one that they kept under wraps was this laser gun,” Mr Clarke said. “It was all under tarpaulin in the rehearsals – and suddenly there it was. It was like a big searchlight on a vehicle.

“Laser guns, despite James Bond films, are not quite as ground-breaking as people think, but there it was: a new laser gun.”

Air force

Beijing has developed a number of advanced aircraft in recent years, and several of them were on display on Wednesday.

Soaring above the parade were China’s two fifth-generation fighter jets, the Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang J-35A.

Both have stealth capabilities and are designed to try to rival the US air force’s F-35 jet.

China has two of the five fifth-generation fighter jets currently known to operate globally. The others are the American F-35 (also operated by the UK and other allies) and F-22, as well as the Russian Su-57.

China showing off its range – and numbers

“What they’re showing here is that they’ve got a full panoply of weapons systems,” Mr Clarke says, pointing to the various land, sea and air assets.

“Whether they can link them together in combined arms warfare, we don’t know, because they haven’t fought a major war since the 1950s… but on paper it’s extremely impressive.”

He added: “It’s not as big as the American military yet, but it certainly rivals it. And it certainly worries American military planners.”

Whatever you might think of the politics, the performance was nothing short of perfect.

Tens of thousands of service personnel in lines so straight they could almost have been animated.

Every flex of the foot, every turn of the head, every cry of allegiance exactly in sync.

And the noise, you could feel every bit as much as you could hear.

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The stamp of boots, the rumble of the tanks and the roar of the jet engines literally reverberated through the stand where we were sitting.

“We serve the people” came the cries when called on; the passion, of course, had been practised, but it felt authentic too.

The security to get here spoke volumes about just how tightly controlled this whole event has been.

Our meet time, dictated by the Chinese government, was over seven hours before the start of the parade itself, bussed in at the dead of night, no fewer than three separate rigorous security scans.

But once onto Beijing’s historic Tiananmen Square, we were free to film in places that are normally strictly off limits.

And that is because today, nothing less than China itself, in all its prowess, is on show.

A projection of power

While this parade is officially to mark 80 years since the official surrender of Japan in the Second World War, it is about so much more than that.

It is about the projection of power, both internally and around the world, too.

To the domestic audience, it is about showing just how far China has come since the war.

From a country invaded and ‘humiliated’ by Japan, to a global superpower, all thanks, they say, to the Chinese Communist Party and the vision of President Xi.

It is notable that even in official communications to the foreign media, the objective of “demonstrating loyalty to the party” was listed as a more important motivation than “commemorating” victory in the war and the sacrifices of the Chinese people.

But be in no doubt, they know the world is watching too, and this was also about projecting power internationally.

Close company

That is largely about the military might, of course, the huge array of Chinese-produced, cutting-edge new weaponry was notable. So is the fact that Xi’s reorganisation and modernisation of the military has been a key theme.

But the messaging was also about the power of China’s allegiances and its political heft too.

Indeed, today was especially notable not just for what was on show, but also for who was here.

No accident at all that Xi Jinping was continually staged with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on his right and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to his left.

There has been speculation that the recent blossoming alliance between Putin and Kim has irked China somewhat. No sign of that today, the signals were all that this is a trio in lockstep.

Indeed, Kim rarely leaves his hermit kingdom, and he has never been to a multilateral event as big as this. His presence speaks volumes about his confidence in this company.

All of this comes after four days of intense diplomacy here, where China has hosted leaders from across the world in an attempt to cast itself as a great convener of nations and a preserver of a peaceful global order.

Read more analysis on China:
China, Russia, and India push for new world order
Summit called ‘axis of upheaval’ – that feels right when you look at guest list
Economic summit is a show designed to rattle the West

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It’s a message perhaps a little undermined when stood before such a show of military might, with one leader wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and another sanctioned by much of the world for its accumulation of nuclear weapons.

But perhaps to many, disillusioned with America, this simply doesn’t matter, and that is the gap Xi is successfully exploiting.

Not everyone will be buying in, but this was in some ways a vision for a future Xi would like to see, and it is a vision that’s centred on Chinese power.

Xi Jinping hailed the “great regeneration of China” as he hosted Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un for Beijing’s biggest ever military parade.

The three leaders, who have been labelled the “axis of upheaval”, watched on as troops, tanks, and other military hardware put on a show of force in the Chinese capital.

Follow live updates from Beijing

After being flanked by his Russian and North Korean counterparts as they emerged together at the start of the ceremony, Mr Xi paid tribute to his country’s soldiers who fought “the Japanese invaders” during World War Two.

Xi: We will defend our sovereignty

The parade marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat, which brought the conflict to an end.

“It is an important part of our history, and we made our contribution to saving the people, defending peace, and ensuring victory,” Mr Xi said.

He called on countries to “look after each other” to “avoid the repetition of tragedy”, before declaring China would “accelerate our development and defend our national integrity and sovereignty”.

Mr Putin and Mr Kim represent two of the Chinese president’s closest allies, with both leaning heavily on Beijing for trade – the former especially reliant since being ostracised by the West over the war in Ukraine.

Trump sends a message

Donald Trump’s attempts to smooth over US-Russia relations, and bring an end to that conflict, have so far not achieved anything significant.

Posting on Truth Social as soldiers marched through Tiananmen Square, the US president suggested China and its allies were conspiring against Washington.

“May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,” he said.

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States.”

For Mr Xi, the parade was a chance not just to commemorate its role in World War Two, but to showcase itself as a significant alternative to a postwar world order dominated by the US.

Mr Trump’s isolationist foreign policy, including cuts to overseas aid, has – according to his critics – given China a tantalising opportunity to flex its muscle.

Concerns remain about whether Beijing may one day make a move on Taiwan, while other nations – notably India – become more drawn into its trade orbit due to Mr Trump’s aggressive tariffs.

The parade came after an economic summit in Beijing, with Indian PM Narendra Modi among the attendees.

China could pose ‘huge threat’ to US

Philip Shetler-Jones, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Sky News that China’s impressive military – if allied with Russia’s – could “pose a huge threat to American forces” in the Pacific.

“In Japan particularly, people are quite mindful there are joint exercises between Chinese and Russian forces using nuclear-capable bombers, ships, and more recently submarines,” he said.

“I think the intention is to imply that if it came to full-scale conflict involving the US, then China would expect to have collaboration with Russia – and perhaps North Korea as well.”