CSSC unmanned vehicles (UUV)s are uncrewed vehicles developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC) by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), most of which are in service with various Chinese governmental agencies/departments, and government-owned enterprises.

Qilin ARV

History
PRC
NameQilin
NamesakeQilin
Ordered1
Awarded1
BuilderCSSC
Christened2021
Completed2021
Acquired2021
Commissioned2021
Maiden voyage2021
In service2021
StatusActive
Class overview
Operators People's Liberation Army Navy
Built2016-2021
In service2021 onward
In commission2021 onward
Planned1
Completed1
Active1
General characteristics
TypeBottom crawler
PropulsionElectrical (battery)
Sensors and
processing systems		Various
Electronic warfare
& decoys		None
ArmamentNone
ArmourNone
Aircraft carriedNone
Aviation facilitiesNone

Qilin ARV (Qi-Lin or 麒麟 in Chinese) is a type of very little known unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) built in the People's Republic of China (PRC) by the 719th Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).[1][2][3][4][5][6] ARV stands for Autonomous Remotely-controlled Vehicle, meaning the UUV is capable of operating both as Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or a Remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV), an idea pioneered by American Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), which built Nereus hybrid unmanned underwater vehicle, the first of its kind entering production.

The idea of having an hybrid UUV that can both operate in fully autonomous and in remotely controlled modes is due to the inherit shortcomings of both: When the UUV operates in greater depth, the tether cable would becoming heavy and limits the mobility of the UUV, so fully autonomous mode is preferred in such operations. However, when the UUV needs to operate inside a wreckage or other complex structure, and need make adjustment in real time, the cost would have become prohibitive because mission planning software must include all possible scenarios, which may not cover everything, so when there are plenty opportunities of unexpected would happen, it would be far more cost effective to deploy a ROUV so human operators can adjust accordingly to the situation arose. Designing an UUV that can be both would be far more cost effective than having separate AUVs and ROUVs because one UUV can do the job for both. After the successful fielding of 7B8, Arctic series, Hadal and Hadal 1 ARVs, China has also developed and fielded Qilin UUV.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Development of Qinlin ARV formally begun in 2016, and after approximately half a decade later, was completed in late 2021. In comparison to earlier Chinese ARVs, the electrically powered Qilin is unique in that not only it can operate as AUV and ROUV, it is also a bottom crawler, thus combines the advantage of AUV and ROUV with bottom crawler thanks to its four legs that enable it to travel on seabed when needed. The mechanical legs of Qilin are designed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and the finally assembly was at Sea King Electrical Co. (Hai-Wang Dian-Ji Gong-Si, 海王机电公司).[2] Qilin is designed to operating at a depth of a thousand meters.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Specification:[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Sea Soar UUVs

Sea Soar (Hai-Xiang, 海翔) series UUVs belongs to a family of very little known underwater glider developed by the 702nd Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC)[7][8][9][10][11][12] [13][14][15][16] that merged with CSSC in November 2019, and as of early 2020s, a total of three models of this series have been identified:[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Poseidon 100-1 AUV

Poseidon (Hai-Shen, 海神) series autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)s belong to a very little known AUVs developed by CSIC[7] that merged with CSSC in November 2019, and the first model of this series is Poseidon 100-1.[17][18] Specification:[17][18]

Poseidon 100-2 AUV

Poseidon 2 is a development of earlier Poseidon 1, and is designed to operate at a depth of 100 meters.[17][18] Specification:[17][18]

Poseidon 300 AUV

Poseidon 3 has increased payload and greater operating depth than Poseidon 2, and is designed to operate at a depth of 300 meters.[17][18] Specification:[17][18]

Poseidon 6000 AUV

As of early 2020s, Poseidon 6000 is the largest member of the Poseidon series, and also the deepest diving model in the series, capable of operating at a depth of 6000 meters.[17][18] Specification: [17][18]

Sea Ray wave glider

Sea Ray (Hai-Yao. 海鳐) unmanned surface vehicle (USV) is a wave glider jointly developed by the Qingdao Pilot National Lab for Marine Science and Technology (青岛海洋科学与技术国家实验室) of CSSC, and the 710th Research Institute of CSSC,[19][20][21][22] and the general designer is Mr. Wu Xiaotao (吴小涛).[19] Development begun in 2012, and became part of 863 Program in 2014, with the maiden voyage was completed on August 11, 2014, and the development was completed in 2017,[19][20][21][22] with small scale production followed.

Sea Ray is consisted of three major subsystems: the unmanned surface hull with solar panel, underwater propulsion system, and the tether attaching the surface hull tether attaching the surface hull and underwater propulsion system.[20][21] Sea Ray is currently used mainly for hydrometeorological, hydrographical, and oceanographic surveying tasks,[19][20][21] and is thus equipped with BeiDou navigational system, communication system, CTD, ADCP and various other sensors for such missions.[20][21]

Sea Sentry wave glider

Sea Sentry (Hai-Shao-Bing, 海哨兵) USV is a small wave glider whose development is headed by Oceanic Dynamic Process and Climate Functionality Laboratory (海洋动力过程与气候功能实验室) of Qingdao Pilot National Lab for Marine Science and Technology (青岛海洋科学与技术国家实验室) of CSSC.[23][24][25] The general designer is Mr. Sun Xiu-Jun (孙秀军),[23][24] and the project became part of 863 program in 2014, and was completed in 2017.[22][23][24][25] Sea Sentry has been deployed in weather reconnaissance missions to monitor the progress of Typhoon Bailu, Lingling, Mitag,[23][24] Hato, and Pakhar.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Qilin autonomous remotely controlled vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). August 31, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Qilin ARV" (in Simplified Chinese). September 9, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "Qilin unmanned underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). August 30, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d "Qilin UUV" (in Simplified Chinese). August 14, 2021.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b c d "Qilin hybrid unmanned underwaer vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). August 25, 2021.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ a b c d "Qilin hybrid UUV". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). August 14, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Leviathan Wakes: China's Growing Fleet of Autonomous Undersea Vehicles". August 17, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "Sea Soar underwater glider". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). July 17, 2016.
  9. ^ a b c "Sea Soar H underwater glider" (in Simplified Chinese). August 21, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "Sea Soar H" (in Simplified Chinese). August 21, 2020.
  11. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X underwater glider" (in Simplified Chinese). September 7, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X underwater unmanned vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). September 7, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X UUV". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). September 10, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X unmanned vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). September 8, 2021. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X uncrewed underwater vehicle". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). December 20, 2021.
  16. ^ a b c "Sea Soar 500X" (in Simplified Chinese). May 8, 2021.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h "Poseidon series autonomous underwater vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "Poseidon series AUV" (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  19. ^ a b c d "Sea Ray wave glider" (in Simplified Chinese). December 18, 2019.
  20. ^ a b c d e "Sea Ray unmanned vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). October 23, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ a b c d e "Sea Ray uncrewed vehicle". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). September 22, 2017.
  22. ^ a b c "Sea Ray and Sea Sentry wave gliders" (PDF) (in Simplified Chinese).[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ a b c d "Sea Sentry wave glider" (in Simplified Chinese). 11 March 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  24. ^ a b c d "Sea Sentry uncrewed vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). March 11, 2020.
  25. ^ a b c "Sea Sentry unmanned vehicle" (in Simplified Chinese). April 11, 2021.
Categories