In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
It can be assumed that China is developing a combat drone, maybe several. The technology is so obviously part of the future that the rising power cannot ignore it. But making even tentative conclusions about China's progress in the field is not easy. The country's rapid advances in fighter technology suggest it may be little more than a decade behind the West; yet even the U.S. is still years from deploying an unmanned strike aircraft with the penetration capabilities of a modern fighter.
