The Navy allocates a budget of 12 million for the first time to purchase underwater gliders to strengthen underwater reconnaissance.

At the 2023 Taipei Defense Aerospace Exhibition, the Naval Atmospheric and Atmospheric Administration demonstrated the first "underwater glider" developed in cooperation with private manufacturers. (File photo, provided by Military News Agency)

[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] There is a major innovative attempt in the Navy's army building and war preparation plan! The Navy has planned a budget of 12 million yuan for the first time this year, breaking the traditional project construction model that was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Armament Administration or tediously evaluated for several years. It decided to independently purchase and perform performance testing of the "Underwater Glider Autonomous Cruise and Acoustic Tracking System" by directly purchasing equipment. This flexible approach of "spending a small amount of money, buying spot goods, and conducting direct evaluation by the troops" not only allows frontline officers and soldiers to obtain scientific and technological entities in the shortest possible time and put them into actual combat verification, it is also an indicator system breakthrough for the national army to implement asymmetric warfare and try "small-scale procurement of national defense innovations."

Military circles are concerned about whether this equipment is the same type of weapon as the REMUS 300 "Lionfish" small unmanned underwater vehicle (SUUV) that the US military has been actively purchasing in recent years. The answer is "completely different".

The "Lionfish" of the US military uses traditional motors and propellers for propulsion. It is fast and has high modular flexibility. It is mainly responsible for short-term and high-risk mine countermeasures and active reconnaissance within 30 hours; while the "underwater glider" purchased by the Chinese Navy uses changing its own buoyancy and center of gravity to cooperate with the flanks to perform silent zigzag gliding in the water. It does not require propellers, consumes very little energy, and can lurk for one to several months once it enters the water. The two have fundamental differences in power principles, endurance, and tactical tasks.

"Underwater glider" has the characteristics of long-term operation, large-scale collection, high concealment, low-cost maintenance and operation, rapid maneuverability and diverse underwater reconnaissance. It can collect hydrographic information for the navy and influence the selection of sonar modes and the application of tactics. (Provided by Military News Agency)

Military sources pointed out today that the Navy's direct purchase of the "Underwater Glider Autonomous Cruise and Acoustic Tracking System" will be directly connected to the Navy's Atmospheric and Oceanographic Bureau to make up for the "blind spots" in the current voiceprint collection model. In the past, Dahai Bureau's voiceprint collection mainly relied on two traditional methods: the first was to cooperate with the mission drill, which was carried out by P-3C Anti-submarine aircraft drop one-time sound beacons, or on-going ships deploy towed sonar. However, the cost of fuel and consumables for each mission is extremely high, and the warships have obvious targets and cannot stay for a long time. The second method is to cooperate with domestic academic institutions to set up fixed buoys and submersibles in specific sea areas. Although they can be monitored at fixed points for a long time, the space is limited and it is easy for enemy submarines to grasp the position and deliberately avoid it.

He said that after the introduction of "underwater gliders", the Atmospheric and Oceanic Bureau's voiceprint collection will be comprehensively upgraded from traditional "rigid fixed points" to "dynamic three-dimensional patrol surfaces." This glider has autonomous cruising capabilities. It can usually be like a silent "underwater listening whistle", cruising back and forth in strategic channels such as the Bashi Channel or the eastern waters of Taiwan. Enemy ships are completely unable to predict its position. At the same time, it can also silently collect hydrological data such as water temperature and salinity at different depths while gliding, helping the navy to accurately map the "underwater sound fingerprint database" around the Taiwan Strait. This is of decisive help to the tactical sonar interpretation of my country's Hailong and Haikun class submarines and anti-submarine forces.

The Navy's bold attempt to purchase "million-level" low-cost equipment worth 12 million yuan this time essentially reflects the strategic resilience of "expendability" in asymmetric warfare. Once this underwater glider, which is an extension of commercial regulations or domestic technology, passes the independent evaluation of front-line units of the Navy, in the future the military will be able to carry out distributed deployment in groups around the Taiwan Strait at very low cost. Even if it is lost in a conflict, it will not put a burden on national defense finances, but it can provide Taiwan with a steady stream of high-altitude or underwater real-time intelligence of extremely high strategic value, successfully turning the tide of anti-submarine defense in the Taiwan Strait.