Zhu Hai Yun (unmanned drone carrier)

2022: Announcement

On May 19, 2022, China introduced the world's first semi-autonomous unmanned drone carrier. The research vessel, created by Huangpu-Wenchong Shipyard, will transport, launch, restore and coordinate more than 50 other autonomous air, surface and underwater vehicles.

The ship Zhu Hai Yun belongs to the Southern Laboratory of Marine Science and Technology Guangdong (Zhuhai), also known as the "Southern Ocean Laboratory" of Sun Yat-sen University. According to its sponsors, it is designed to help Chinese oceanographers expand their research through the use of unmanned and autonomous vehicles.

China launched the first unmanned drone carrier

An unmanned vessel capable of operating independently, 88 meters long, 14 meters wide and 6 meters deep, can be controlled remotely or autonomously move in open waters, as well as create a network for monitoring targets and contribute to maritime security. The developers of the ship tried to make the most of domestic developments, including propulsion, energy systems, surveillance and automation systems.

The main goal of the project is the mass deployment of unmanned devices to create a three-dimensional network surveillance system above and below the surface - "Intelligent and maneuverable stereoscopic ocean surveillance system," covering an area with a diameter of more than 50 nautical miles. Like other civilian maritime autonomy projects - for example, the Sea Wing glider of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Yunzhou Tech roar drones - this concept may have additional advantages for naval applications.

The developer of the ship - the Chinese State Shipbuilding Corporation, the shipbuilding company of the world - does not assume that the Cloud will make autonomous maneuvers in ports with busy traffic. Before entering the open sea, it will be controlled by an operator on land. The ship will go offline only where it is safe.

The autonomous flotilla of flying and floating drones is able to carry out complex independent missions, including working together to obtain a "three-dimensional image of certain targets," the shipbuilding company reports. After completing the tasks, the copters return to the deck, and the boats sail to the ship, waiting for them to be lifted aboard.

[Для] unmanned surface vehicles there are devices with a diesel engine, a wave engine and solar batteries. For the underwater world, there are intelligent profile buoys that can conduct observations from the surface to the underwater world, as well as an underwater [glider], "explained Dr. Zhang Yunfei, founder and president of Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligence Technology, in a statement in 2021. The [networked] system covers about 100 kilometers in diameter, four kilometers in the air and four kilometers on the surface of the water, covering a three-dimensional area in the sea.]

The construction of the ship began in July 2021, and the sponsors called it a complex project because of its sophistication. The ship will undergo refurbishment next to the pier, and its transfer is expected by the end of 2022.^[1]

However, in addition to scientific "Cloud" can carry out combat missions to intercept enemy targets^[2]

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