The Tianlangxing, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence ship. FILE IMAGE: Courtesy Japanese Ministry of Defense
A Chinese surveillance vessel has been spotted monitoring the Rim of the Pacific maritime (RIMPAC) exercises, USNI News reported on July 13 citing a US Navy official.
According to US Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Charlie Brown, a Type 815 (Dongdiao-class) auxiliary general intelligence ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy has been deployed in the exclusive economic zone off the coast of Hawaii since July 11.
“We expect the ship will remain outside the territorial seas of the U.S. and not operate in a manner that disrupts ongoing RIMPAC exercise,” Brown said. “We’ve taken all precautions necessary to protect our critical information. The ship’s presence has not affected the conduct of the exercise.”
“We expect the ship will remain outside the territorial seas of the U.S. and not operate in a manner that disrupts ongoing RIMPAC exercise.”
According to USNI News, in 2014 and 2016, China used ships of the same type to monitor the RIMPAC of that years.
An intel ship for sure. Have not seen this pix before :)
It was off Australia a little while back
Communications Intelligence collecting ship these I’ve seen being traveling to African bases of China they want to ensure their new bases and allies are safe.
Business as usual. Nothing new under the sun. During the cold war Soviet fishing trawlers were always seen trailing NATO naval groupings and exercises, and I’m sure NATO submarines were keeping a keen eye on Soviet naval ships.
I think in the 1980 sci-fi movie The Final Countdown, when the USS Nimitz goes back in time, one of the first things they notice is that the Soviet spy trawler was gone.
Light espionage, and symbolically maintaining their presence at RIMPAC. Not surprising.
Aw nice, he grew up and joined the navy. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30353e805ebe52362d48b43a9e4be0677ee76ff4e2e749eeff1af3478762802f.jpg
Those soviet era spy trawlers packed a surprise. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bda2e7d1112eb0e275500aff1f0a372fbd59a33a37439cdde84d86892b4c3708.jpg
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