When a full-scale model of the world’s first independent submarine hunter drone was unveiled at the Dubai Airshow last month, it offered a glimpse of the latest in a series of advances in China’s development of a modern integrated anti-submarine system.
The Wing Loong-X export variant unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has anti-submarine capabilities that are reportedly superior in some respects to the United States Navy’s Boeing P-8 Poseidon and other manned aircraft.
The full-scale model drone’s appearance in Dubai followed official confirmation that the Chinese navy’s latest ship-based anti-submarine helicopter, the Z-20F, was on board the aircraft carrier Fujian, commissioned earlier in November.
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Meanwhile, at the Victory Day parade in September, China displayed its new generation of large anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft, the Y-9Q, together with two unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) types, the HSU100 and AJX002.
All represent China’s effort to develop an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) system that can counter the challenges posed by rivals operating in the region, including Japan and its strategic partner the US.
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The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and the US Navy operate large and powerful submarine fleets that have long held critical choke points for the PLA Navy along the first island chain.