China is working on an underwater surveillance system that may thwart U.S. maritime advantage in the Asia-Pacific region.
The “Underwater Great Wall Project,” as it is called, proposes a network of ships and underwater sensors capable of “real-time location, tracing of surface and underwater targets,” according to the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The company shared details about the project at its booth at a late-2015 public exhibition in China. Translation of the description was obtained by IHS Jane’s, a British publisher specializing in defense, security, aerospace, and transportation intelligence.
The network “could significantly erode the undersea warfare advantage held by U.S. and Russian submarines and contribute greatly to future Chinese ability to control the South China Sea,” IHS Jane’s wrote in a May 17 article.
China is muscling its way into the South China Sea, claiming vast territory already claimed by other neighboring countries that rely on the United States for military protection. Particularly disconcerting was China’s recent move to build advanced military facilities on a man-made island it has created in the Spratly Islands region between Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
