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Four years ago, China seized a US underwater vehicle suspected of spying in the disputed South China Sea and criticized the US for “close reconnaissance activities against China.”
Now the tide has turned. China’s neighbor Indonesia has found three Chinese underwater drones, the latest one discovered in late December near South Sulawesi’s Selayar island.
The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), labeled “China Academy of Sciences of Shenyang Automation Institute”, was later transferred to the 6th Main Naval Base in Makassar, where it is being inspected.
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Malcolm Davis, senior defense strategy analyst at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, said it was significant that this glider was recovered in the Sunda Strait, which is one of the key maritime straits that could accommodate China to deploy submarines in the Indian Ocean while submerged.
“The glider would be taking sonar probes from the ocean floor to obtain an accurate bathymetric map of the seafloor, as well as using sensors to understand the thermal conditions within the water and acoustic conditions, in order to provide the Navy submarines PLA the best chance to cross the Sunda Strait undetected, ”Davis said.
“By deploying these gliders in these locations, even if they are in foreign state waters, China can ensure that its submarines are better able to deploy from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, or against the northern and southern maritime approaches. Western Australia in a future conflict. “
A UUV is a robot that travels underwater to collect oceanographic data such as seawater temperature, salinity, turbidity, and chlorophyll and oxygen levels without the intervention of an operator. UUVs can help understand the underwater environment to support future submarine operations and are of great interest to navies around the world.
The Chinese drone fleet was deployed by the specialized research vessel Xiangyanghong 06 on a winter research mission for the Joint Ecological and Ocean Research Project led by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, according to an article in Forbes by defense analyst HI Sutton.
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Analysts said the discovery of Chinese UUVs revealed how much progress China had made in developing the devices and how it was preparing for a new front in the war: underwater.
“The presence of UUV indicates that China is deploying submarines in those areas. Most likely this is for the purpose of gathering intelligence and enhancing the submarine’s ability to fight, if necessary, in those waters, “said Timothy Heath, a security expert with the US think tank Rand Corporation.
“China may be interested in patrolling the waters near Indonesia as part of a broader effort to expand the operational range of Chinese submarines, even as far as the Indian Ocean.”
Davis said these glider operations suggested that China anticipated sending submarines away from its shores.
“China is sending submarines beyond the South or East China Seas, beyond the ‘first island chain’ to more distant deployments in the Indian Ocean, or against Australia in a way that would allow the PLA Navy to collect intelligence or supporting covert operations or conducting war operations against an opponent, ”Davis said.
“A better understanding of the submarine maritime environment at critical choke points and straits like Sunda could allow them to be more effective in countering an opponent’s mine and submarine warfare forces.”
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China is widely recognized as a major developer of unmanned underwater vehicles with good quality platforms. While Chinese UUV technology lags behind that of the US Right now, it is closing the gap.
The Chinese navy unveiled a large underwater drone, the HSU-001, at a parade in 2019 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. The HSU-001 is comparable to the US Navy’s UUV, the Orca. While it is slightly smaller and carries a lighter weapon payload, like the Orca, it can travel long distances autonomously to collect environmental data and spy on enemy vessels.
A month after the parade, the China Sea-Whale 2000-developed UUV completed its 37-day non-stop test run in the South China Sea over a distance of 2,011 km (1,250 miles) that could help China expand range. of its activities in the South China Sea.
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