Chinese navy looks to big data to give it an edge
- Article in official PLA Daily newspaper highlights role of one of the country’s older frigates in collecting sonar data from foreign vessels
- One commander says that collecting such information is now a ‘key task’ during regular training operations
“Data collection has become one of our key tasks in regular training, which is now an integral part of our detachment,” the report said, quoting a commander from the PLA’s North Sea Fleet.
The ship was launched in 2011 and did not originally have a sonar system, but the report said it had been upgraded and can now take part in anti-submarine operations as well as using anti-ship missile data it collected during previous drills that simulated an attack by multiple drones.
“The PLA has upgraded old warships and made their [weapon systems] talk to each other through data-linking, which is a big boost to combat training and operational efficiency” Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the Taiwanese naval academy in Kaohsiung.
China needs ‘holistic approach’ to meet military modernisation goals
The PLA Daily report also said that the country’s most advanced destroyer, the Nanchang, has collected a large volume of reference data from other warships in joint operations since it entered service in 2020.
Previous news reports have said that some of the technology found on the Nanchang and other Type 055 destroyers has also been fitted on Type 054B frigates, a more modern version of the Type 054A.
Lu said the PLA has late-mover advantages in the use of big data technology, as many of its warships were developed and built in the past two decades.
“When the Americans set up their systematic combat system [in the last century], there was no big data then,” Lu said.
But Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jie said the US has the advantage of decades of real battlefield experience, while the PLA Navy’s last combat experience dated back to 1974, when it seized the contested Paracel Islands from South Vietnamese forces.
“The PLA has lagged behind [the US] in terms of real combat training,” Li said. “The US has many opportunities to organise joint naval exercises with its allies and partners in the region, which will also help enrich the military’s big data in hydrology that is very useful in a sea battle.”
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The PLA operates the largest naval fleet in the world with 425 active units as of August 2023, according to the World Directory of Modern Military Warships.
However, although the US navy has around 280 warships, it remains the world’s most powerful by other measures, with a combined tonnage of around 4.6 million, according to the Rand Corporation, a US government-funded think tank.
