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China’s underwater drones seized in Indonesia expose tech, routes and potential submarine plans
- Glider picked up in key maritime strait off Indonesia may have been mapping the sea floor to chart a course for submarines to go undetected: defence analyst
- Chinese UUV technology is closing in on American underwater drone advancements
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Four years ago, China seized a United States underwater vehicle suspected of spying in the disputed South China Sea and criticised the US for “close-up reconnaissance activities against China”.
Now, the tide has turned. China’s neighbour Indonesia has found three Chinese underwater drones, the latest discovered in late December near South Sulawesi’s Selayar Island.
The unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), labelled “Shenyang Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences”, was later transferred to the 6th Main Naval Base in Makassar where it is being inspected.
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Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defence strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said it was significant this glider was recovered in the Sunda Strait, which is one of the key maritime straits that could accommodate China deploying submarines into the Indian Ocean while submerged.
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“The glider would be taking sonar soundings of the ocean bottom to get an accurate bathymetric map of the sea floor, as well as using sensors to understand thermal conditions within the water, and acoustic conditions, so as to give PLA Navy submarines the best chance for traversing the Sunda Strait without being detected,” Davis said.
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