A fisherman in Indonesia, known only as Saeruddin, recently introduced and caught a very different type of trek that is a Chinese drone. At least two other similar, if not identical, unmanned submarine vehicles in the ocean glider have been found in Indonesian waters over the past two years. This raises questions as to whether the Chinese government is discreetly conducting underwater surveys of routes between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, information that could be particularly useful for its submarines traveling through these areas while underwater.
On December 20, 2020, Saeruddin reportedly captured the drone near the Selayar Islands, an archipelago forming part of the province of South Sulawesi, in the central part of the vast nation, which consists of more than 17,000 individual islands. . He then handed it over to the local police, who then handed it over to the Indonesian army.
via Twitter
An unmanned submarine of a glider recovered in December 2020 off the coast of the Selayar Islands.
A report from Indonesian detikNuus said the drone, which appears to be some sort of sensor array in its nose, was just under 7.4 feet long, without counting as a long antenna or sensor extending from the rear. Photos of the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) show that it has a torpedo-shaped body with a few wings to the middle and a vertical tail.
Twitter user @Jatosint was one of the first to take note of the strong similarities with the Sea Wing UUV, a design developed and manufactured by the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the State-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and which has been in use since at least 2014 is. glider-type underwater drone, Sea Wing moves forward in the water, aided by its wings and tail, by diving repeatedly and then sitting up again. It performs these maneuvers using an internal system, essentially a balloon that expands and contracts as pressure oil moves in and out, changing the buoyancy.
China has in the past made dubious claims that Sea Wing drones could stay at sea for more than 30 days and dive nearly four kilometers below the surface.
CAS uses Sea Wings public for oceanographic research with sensors that can measure things like the strength and direction of currents, water temperature, oxygen levels and salinity. These are common tasks for these types of UUVs, which are used around the world, also by military forces.
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sea Wing unmanned underwater vehicles placed in front of a research ship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In December 2019, the Chinese survey ship Xiangyanghong 06 launched 12 of these UUVs in the East Indian Ocean. CAS said the group of drones eventually traveled more than 12,000 kilometers, or 7,500 miles. Chinese authorities have not reported missing any of the drones, but it is noteworthy that initial reports say 14 of the drones, rather than 12, were deployed. At the same time, it is not clear whether the prevailing currents could carry a disabled Sea Wing into the waters of the Selayar Islands.
Nor is it the first time an apparent Sea Wing drone has been found in Indonesian waters. In January, one was found near the Masalembu Islands, about 400 kilometers west of the Selayar Islands. In March 2019, another was found in the waters around the Riau Islands even further northwest. These three groups of islands are located in bodies of water that form important parts of several maritime routes that stretch between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
Google Maps
A map showing the locations of, left to right, the Riau Islands, the Masalembu Islands and the Selayar Islands, where apparent Chinese underwater bumblebees have been recovered over the past two years.
Although we do not know the exact configurations of UUVs found in the waters around Indonesia, underwater gliders are also frequently used to conduct hydrographic recordings and otherwise assist in the creation of underwater maps. This type of information is useful for compiling accurate maritime charts to support fleet operations, as well as commercial shipping and civilian sailing activities. Detailed maps of the contours of the seabed are especially valuable for the crew of submarines sailing under the waves.
As China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) works to project power further and further than the country’s shorelines, the latest maritime maps and maps for various critical waterways will be more important for daily activities and any other real future combat operations. The South China Sea is already a very controversial body of water, with virtually all the countries in the region disputing Beijing’s extensive territorial claims.
In 2017, there was also a report that the Chinese government was testing how glider UUVs, possibly versions of the Sea Wing, could act as communication and data delivery nodes to quickly transmit information that could be useful for detection and detection. of foreign submarine movements in the South China Sea. In the same year, news emerged of Chinese plans to establish a network of underwater sensors in the region, ostensibly for environmental research, which could also have potential anti-submarine warfare applications.
via SCMP
A handout photo showing staff of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oceanology, or IOCAS, dealing with what appears to be a Sea Wing UUV, which accompanied a 2017 story about the use of glider underwater bumblebees to wage war against the to support submarine.
While we cannot say with certainty what any of these UUVs have done in Indonesian waters, the suspicion about possible dual civilian and military activities is also not surprising. In fact a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Dalang III class rescue and rescue ship snatched up a U.S. Navy glider that conducted an oceanographic survey from the waters of the South China Sea in 2016, certainly in part to try to see if it was actually gathering more information about information.
If you could examine the glider and its payload, it could provide some useful information for China’s own intelligence arms. The Indonesian army is most likely picking up the drones that the country’s fishermen are continuing to repair, in search of any useful information about their capabilities and activities.
As Chinese naval activity through the West Pacific and Indian Ocean continues to grow, it seems equally likely that this type of discovery will occur more and more. In 2018, a Vietnamese fisherman recovering what appears to be a Chinese torpedo may have been left over from a drill of some kind, a find that also highlighted the increasing PLAN presence in the South China Sea region. In 2015, Chinese authorities themselves announced that a fisherman had repaired a torpedo-shaped “robot” under the intelligence “robot” off the coast of Hainan Island in the South China Sea, which is a major PLAN base. .
One has to imagine, if nothing else, that Indonesian fishermen are increasingly looking for unusual catches in the waters around the country.
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