China openly deploys surveillance sensors, America is startled
China has just startled the US when it publicly admitted that it has deployed a US surveillance sensor system near Guam Island since 2016.
The admission came as the Chinese Academy of Sciences unveiled its underwater monitoring program, with one of the sensors placed at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans, while another is located in waters off a Micronesian island.
According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, all of China's sensor systems are located within a 500 km radius around Guam Island and are capable of detecting signals within a range of 1,000 km.
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| Model of China's underwater anti-submarine system. |
This source emphasized that China's intelligence sensor network has observed every move of US Navy fast-attack nuclear submarines operating near Guam island in recent times.
Along with openly monitoring the US in Guam, recently the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted a Chinese military source saying that the country plans to bring a total of 20 sensors to the East Sea.
Of these sensor systems, eight were deployed to the East Sea in September 2016, all part of a global observation project. In total, the system has 3,800 sensors scattered around the world.
By design, every five days the Chinese sensor will automatically dive down to a depth of 2 kilometers to collect information and resurface to transmit signals to the Beidou navigation satellite. To maintain the continuous operation of this sensor, China will send 10 new sensors to the East Sea every year to replace old sensors that run out of power.
Commenting on China's deployment of sensor systems on the bottom of the East Sea, Mr. Bryan Clark - former special advisor to the leaders of US naval campaigns, said that this is a big plot of Beijing, especially in the military field.
The American expert said that during the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union tried every way to detect each other's underground cable communications and sensor equipment to intercept them in peacetime, or cut them off in wartime.
It is known that during the Cold War, in addition to specialized acoustic measuring vessels to detect sounds, the US Navy widely deployed a network of underwater sensors belonging to the "sound surveillance system" specializing in tracking Soviet submarines.
The Soviet Navy also had such devices, which were placed on the bottom of the seas near their country to prevent the possibility of being penetrated by American submarines. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is unclear whether this program was maintained or not.
For Washington’s part, although the number of sensors has decreased, the system in the Pacific is still relatively complete. Moreover, the US Department of Defense is working to develop new, specialized tracking and surveillance technology to deal with Chinese submarines.
In the plan to develop anti-submarine systems of the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency, there is a project to develop a new version of the ocean surveillance satellite network, combined with new generation underwater acoustic eavesdropping devices.
Robotic acoustic interceptors will be deployed in all shallow and deep waters of the ocean, capable of detecting and tracking all types of conventional and nuclear-powered submarines of countries around the world.
The American expert commented that, under pressure from American submarines, Japan and Southeast Asian countries in the East Sea and East China Sea, China also intends to conduct submarine reconnaissance activities on the seabed, and at the same time seeks to intercept and collect information from submarine cables.
Although it is not clear how far China has advanced, it is clear that this is a dangerous move by Beijing towards countries in the region, the American expert commented.