Sea
China launches unmanned drone carrier
By Michael Tracey Last Updated Jun 13, 2022
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China has launched an unmanned drone carrier, the Zhu Hai Yun which is capable of carrying hundreds of drones onboard.
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The ship uses artificial intelligence (AI) to navigate on its own.
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Beijing says it is a marine research vessel, but the world sees it as a potential military vessel.
China has launched the world's first uncrewed drone ship which uses AI to navigate autonomously in the ocean.
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Beijing has described it as a marine research vessel to be used for collecting data, disaster assistance, and for monitoring the environment. But experts have noted that the ship has the potential to be used as a military vessel. The vessel could be used by China's military to gather intelligence in the contested South China Sea, in which several countries have made competing territorial claims over.
Recently, China has made increasingly assertive claims of sovereignty over the South China sea, and has been building up its military.
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The autonomous ship, the Zhu Hai Yun is around 290 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 20 feet deep and can carry many sea, air, and submersible drones equipped with different observation instruments, according to the builder CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipping Co. It describes the vessel as "epoch making" and the "world's first intelligent unmanned system mother ship."
The ship was first unveiled in May 2022, but is expected to be delivered by the end of 2022 after completing sea trials, according to the South China Morning Post.
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The vessel uses the world's first AI system called Intelligent Mobile Ocean Stereo Observing System, developed by the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, according to the South China Morning Post.
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The ship can be remotely controlled, and can traverse at a speed of up to 18 knots, or around 20 miles per hour, according to the shipbuilder.
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Chen Dake, the director of the laboratory, told the state-run Science and Technology Daily in 2021 that the ship is a new "marine species" that will revolutionize ocean observation.
China is already the world's largest shipbuilder, and has ambitions to become a great maritime military power.
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Such unmanned remotely controlled vessels could be part of the warfare of the future.
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