Anushka Saxena
Introduction: A Show of Force at Zhuhai
At the recently concluded Zhuhai Airshow in Guangdong, China, a new unmanned combat vessel of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the ORCA, made its debut as part of the Asian giant’s naval arsenal. As official sources highlighted, this 500-tonne displacement high-speed stealth unmanned surface combat vessel, equipped with a diesel-electric dual-mode propulsion system, is capable of performing a host of tasks including Beyond-Visual-Range (BVR) fire strike, and air and missile defense. But perhaps what is most interesting, is its reported ability to perform anti-submarine search and strike autonomously. If true, the PLAN may just be ushering in a transformed era for China’s undersea warfare capabilities.
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) seemed to be at the center of a range of weapons systems displays at Zhuhai. With integrated reconnaissance and strike drones, for example, the display of the Wing Loong-X was noteworthy for its new ASW capabilities. When the WLX was first displayed at the 2022 Airshow, it was referred to as Wing Loong-3, but only its potential to perform reconnaissance, ground strikes, and even communication relay tasks was depicted. This time around, the WLX was displayed as an operational unit, potentially signaling that the technology is now mature and deployment-ready. The weapons pods and the sonar buoy it featured at this Zhuhai indicated that it has the capability to be deployed for ASW. The weapons pods included anti-submarine torpedos the WLX can deploy. Further, commentators suggested on QQ, a Chinese social media platform, that a stack of WLXs can be paired with anti-submarine systems like the KQ-200, the PLAN Air Force’s ASW aircraft, to cover a vast area in a “submarine hunting” scenario.
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