Lost in translation: growing number of Chinese-made underwater gliders discovered in Indonesian waters

摘要

In late December 2020 Indonesian media reported that a local fisherman had discovered an unidentified "missile-like" object in waters off Selayar Island, in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province, , which was stored for a week at his residence before being handed over to the Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) on 26 December. According to the TNI-AL, the object - which is clearly an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) of the underwater glider type -features an approximate length of 2.25 m and weighs 175 kg. The latest discovery marks the third time in two years that physically identical AUVs have been recovered in Indonesian waters. The first was discovered near the Riau Islands on the fringe of the South China Sea in March 2019, the second off the Masalembu Islands in the Java Sea in January 2020, and the third near Selayar Island off the coast of Cape Bira in the South Sulawesi province in December 2020.