Chinese Yuan Wang 5 spy ship in Indian Ocean: Threat to India’s national security

The so-called research vessel of Chinese Navy Yuan Wang 5 which is docking at the Hambantota Port of Sri Lanka is in the news once again. India has raised serious concerns about the ship and its presence in the Indian Ocean region while China has been claiming that the ship is meant to track its satellites and the presence of the ship does not have any security implications. In view of this, it is pertinent to understand the capabilities of this ship and the fact that it really is a threat to regional security.

China constructed a number of ships which are named Yuan Wang which literally means “Long View” in Mandarin. It started constructing them in the early seventies and the first two ships of this category were commissioned in 1978. These were named as Yuan Wang 1 and Yuan Wang 2. Both had a displacement of 21000 tonnes each. Nevertheless, both the ships have been retired from active service. It further commissioned Yuan Wang 3 (17000 tonnes) in 1995 and Yuan Wang 4 in 1998 out of which, Yuan Wang 4 met with an accident in 2007 at Jiangyin harbour and was subsequently destroyed as a target ship.

Three more vessels were constructed which were larger in size (25000 Tonnes each) and named as Yuan Wang 5, Yuan Wang 6 and Yuan Wang 7, which along with Yuan Wang 3 are still in service. The presence of these four highly sophisticated ships in the international waters is a major concern for any country.

We also have to understand the truth of the Chinese Statement that it is a civilian satellite tracking ship and does not have any relation to military affairs. The situation is critical and hence it’s important for us to decode the capabilities of these ships.

Command of PLA strategic force instead of space agency: Although China has been reiterating time and again that the only purpose of these ships is to monitor and track its own satellites and Beijing does not want to harm any other country, the single fact that these ships are neither operated nor controlled by China National Space Administration which is the primary agency governing Chinese Space Program clears the mist. Instead, these ships are directly operated by People’s Liberation Army’s Navy and are put under command of the PLA Strategic Support Force.

Transoceanic Aerospace Observation: Yuan Wang 5 is a third generation tracking ship which has a large number of top-of-the-line radio antennas, Phased Array Radars, and other instruments. The 9-metre diameter large parabolic antennas of this ship can track any transoceanic satellite using multiple types of beam switching techniques. The vessel is capable of tracking any satellite orbiting around Earth and in the light of this fact, India’s concerns are not wrong. This vessel, if present in the Indian Ocean region, will be able to track the launch of any Indian satellite as all our launch locations are located in South India.

Missile Range Instrumentation: Yuan Wang 5 has a sophisticated Missile Range Instrumentation Antenna which can track any missile or rocket from a distance of over 750 km and plot its entire trajectory using its computer. Fitted with highly sophisticated type 180 monopulse radar and type 450-3 radio telemetry system, it can follow any missile right from its origin since the vessel itself is located at sea level and continue following it as long as its range allows. India’s primary missile testing range is located in Chandipur-Odisha and the presence of this ship in the vicinity is a direct threat to the Indian Missile Program.

Communication and Connectivity: The ship boasts state-of-the-art encrypted radio/ satellite connectivity. All the four operational tracking ships of the Chinese Navy are interconnected in a secure self-healing mash of land-based stations operated by Beijing, which are controlled by a single command centre. They share the entire data with the rest of the stations as well as the command centre on a real time basis which is then fed to China’s Strategic Support force.

Robust Design: Ships of this category are capable of operating under adverse sea situations too. It can withstand winds up to level 12 of Beaufort wind scale (Up to 82 Metre per second) which is the topmost category. It can also operate freely in sea state 6 (as per Douglas Sea Scale) which means a very rough sea with almost 20 feet high waves. The ship can operate in polar regions too. The ship once refuelled can operate for over 18000 Nautical miles (over 34000 km) and carries provisions for more than 120 days. Such robust designs are made only for military ships and not for any ship which is meant for civilian space purposes.

Signal Intelligence capabilities: The ship has sophisticated signal intelligence equipment which can track the communication in the region and has the capability to snoop in. It can track the communication in most of the bands and can intercept them effectively. Presence of such ships in the vicinity of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Command is indeed a big threat to India’s national security.

Understanding the capabilities of this ship, one thing is sure and that it is not at all a space tracking ship meant for peaceful civilian uses. It indeed is a spy ship which is sent to the Indian Ocean region with a lone purpose to monitor Indian missile launches, track Indian satellites and spy on Indian naval vessels operating in the region.

Since the ship has refuelled and collected its supplies from Hambantota and is expected to depart by today evening, it is assumed that it will stay in the Indian Ocean region for another 3-4 months before it either refuels itself or moves back to China. Under such circumstances, the presence of this ship is a big threat to India’s territorial integrity.

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The author is a veteran from Armed Forces. He is a known Defence Strategist with keen interests in international affairs, maritime security, terrorism and internal security.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)