Indonesian Fisherman Finds Drone Submarine in Possible Covert Mission | Espionage

An Indonesian fisherman has found what experts say is likely a Chinese underwater drone in the waters of a strategic sea route from the South China Sea to Australia.

According to Indonesian media, the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) was found on December 20 near Selayar Island in South Sulawesi. Six days later he was handed over to the police and then transferred to the Indonesian army.

Military observers have said the drone appears to be a Chinese maritime (or Haiyi) wing UUV. The underwater glider was developed by the Shenyang Automation Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is publicly described as collecting data including seawater temperature, salinity, turbidity, and oxygen levels. Information on currents and direction of movement is transmitted in real time.

The Chinese central government has not spoken.

According to the military Naval News, UUV data can be extremely valuable to naval planners, particularly for submarine operations: “The better a navy knows the waters, the better it can hide its submarines.”

China has been accused of expansionary activities in the disputed South China Sea and has carried out extensive oceanographic research in regions considered to be of military importance. In 2019, China conducted ocean surveys in northern Papua New Guinea, where the United States and Australia operate a joint naval base on Manus Island, and in March this year near Christmas Island, an Australian territory northwest of the main continent. . Submarines are known to regularly transit the area, ABC reported at the time.

An Indonesian security analyst, Muhammad Fauzan, told ABC that the drone was most likely mapping future underwater routes, given that it was found far from Chinese waters and on a major sea route between China and Australia’s northernmost city. , Darwin.

Fauzan said there were important questions about whether the drone, if it was a Chinese instrument, was being used for intelligence gathering or illegal surveying.

“It is at least the third time that a drone of this type, which I and many people, including experts, believe was a Chinese-made underwater drone, [has been] found in Indonesian territorial waters, ”he said.

But perhaps this latest discovery is more significant because the drone is reported to be still active when the fishermen found it in the first place. They said the drone was still moving and the light kept flashing and the forward sensors were still working. And this is the first time we have heard the military say publicly that they have secured the drone and are conducting a full investigation of the drone which according to the latest report is currently taking place at the second Indonesian fleet headquarters. Marina in Surabaya “.

Indonesian fishermen discovered a different variant of Sea Wing UUV in March 2019 in the Riau Islands closest to the South China Sea, and another in January this year in East Java. In December 2016, a Chinese navy ship found and seized a US underwater drone in international waters near its coast that the US navy was in the process of recovering.

“The Chinese Navy ship ASR-510, a Dalang III class ship, approached 500 yards from the [US ship] Bowditch, launched a small boat and took over the UUV, ”the Pentagon said in a statement at the time.

The UUV was only returned after the incident escalated.

The non-electrical mechanics and low power consumption mean that the drones can be used for months or even years, according to Chinese state media. One report said that UUVs had been tested and used in the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The Sea Wings had spent more than 6,400 days at sea, observed more than 160,000 km and reached depths of 7,076 meters in the Mariana Trench.

In February 2020, China’s ministry of natural resources said that China had deployed 12 Sea Wing UUVs in the Indian Ocean for scientific research.