PLA may use Haiyan UUV against Vietnamese frogmen

• Report rights infringement
• published: 01 Jul 2014
• views: 1369

The researchers at Chinese Tianjin University completed a sea test of the Haiyan, an autonomous underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV). "During the test, the vehicle worked consecutively for 21 days and reached a depth of 1094 meters. With an endurance of 30 days, the torpedo-shaped vehicle propelled at a maximum underwater speed of close to 6 kilometers per hour," the reports said. The Haiyan is currently being developed as a civilian vessel for the purposes of scientific exploration of marine biology, seabeds and to aid search and rescue missions. Indeed, the U.S. famously deployed the Bluefin-21 UUV to aid in the search for Malaysian Flight MH370. The Bluefin-21 was able to scan most of the immense search area in the southern Indian Ocean in nine missions. The Haiyan is not China's first UUV. In fact, Beijing already maintains larger and faster UUVs. Where the Haiyan does have an edge is that it is an underwater glider which conserves energy and thus heightens endurance. It also has more advanced computing and can transport information in real time and even make decisions about which course to follow in the sea. However, the Diplomat concludes that It seems highly unlikely that the Haiyan will see action during the current dispute with Vietnam over the oil rig, but it certainly could see action in the future in the South China Sea.