China Deploys Stealth Drones to Guard Disputed Islands in South, East China Seas

Amid mounting tensions over disputed territories in the East and South China Seas, Beijing is preparing to launch stealthy UAVs to oversee and map contested waters and islands.

The domestically-constructed Chinese drones will survey the Senkanu/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are also claimed by Japan, and vast areas in the South China Sea, which is partially claimed by five other nations, the local media reported.

The South China Sea, which Beijing claims to be its sovereign territory, has some 12,186 islands dispersed across the area of over 3,000 square kilometers, with some of them located over a thousand kilometers away from the mainland China.

"Reefs and islands are important parts of our national territory,” Li Yingcheng, general manager of China TopRS Technology Co. Ltd said as quoted by Chinese state-run People’s Daily newspaper. “Precise information of their geology is crucial evidence for the demarcation of territorial waters and for safeguarding national maritime interests and security."

Li noted that “many of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea have much larger underwater portions than what is visible above water.”

To achieve the goal of monitoring remote and difficult of approach islands, Chinese engineers have designed two unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), ZC-5B and ZC-10, Li said. The drones are equipped with Beidou navigation system, a Chinese analogue of the Google system, and can cover in full territories of up to 80 nautical miles and partially areas spread across 1,500 nautical miles.

The ZC-5B, Li stressed, was specifically designed to map and survey open sea reefs. It has an operating range of 1,400 km and can work up to 30 hours.

The news comes as tensions over contested territories remain high in the region. The South China Sea has been a bone of contention in Southeastern Asia, with some six nations, including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China having overlapping territorial claims there.

In July, The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled than China has no historic rights to the territories it claims in proceedings brought before the court unilaterally by the Philippines. Beijing immediately lashed out at the decision, claiming it would not adhere to it.

Since then the other long-living dispute in the East China Sea between China and Japan, has exacerbated sharply. Both sides accused each other of a military buildup in the area and a number of trespassing.