A fleet of private satellites recently picked up an extraordinary sight in the middle of the South China Sea: a parade of more than 40 warships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy sailing in formation.
The exercise was likely meant as a show of force to China’s neighbors, many of whom contest the country’s territorial claims. The photos also demonstrate the usefulness of commercial space in monitoring military developments worldwide, even in the most remote places.
The images show a total of 43 ships steaming in a long line, two abreast, somewhere in the South China Sea. The only clearly identifiable ship is the aircraft carrier Liaoning. At 999 feet long with a full-length flight deck, Liaoning easily stands out. The carrier has an aircraft complement of 24 J-15 fighters and an assortment of helicopters. Several J-15s are visible on the carrier’s flight deck, including two lined up on the carrier’s ski jump for takeoff.
China is currently engaged in the largest naval buildup in recent memory, building large numbers of modern ships complete with modern missiles and sensors. The ships are split between three different naval commands: the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Theater navies.
Most of these vessels are from the Southern Theater Navy, the naval command closest to the South China Sea. According to the Pentagon’s 2017 “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2017”, this navy has 4 nuclear attack submarines, 16 diesel electric attack submarines, 7 destroyers, 22 frigates, 12 corvettes, 3 large amphibious ships, and 35 missile patrol craft. The rest include the carrier Liaoning, visiting from the Northern Theater Navy, and her escorts, which probably include at least two destroyers, a replenishment ship, and possibly a submarine.
It’s impossible to make out most of the ships, but looking at the fleet we can make some guesses. The first six ships appear unusually narrow in the photos, suggesting most of their hull is underwater. So these are probably submarines.
At least one replenishment is directly behind Liaoning, possibly of the Type 903 Fuchi class. The rear is taken up by a number of small, corvette-sized ships and one larger ship with a wider beam that does not appear to be a warship—possibly a PLAN oceanographic survey ship.
Most of the ships are likely to be newer vessels, particularly those of the Type 056, Type 054A, and Type 052 classes. The Type 056 Jiangdao class is a general-purpose corvette, armed with light weapons, designed for offshore patrol duties. The Type 054A Jiangkai IIfrigates are a step above in both armament and mission, capable of serving with carrier task forces or independently to hunt submarines. The Type 052 Luyang III class, particularly the -C and -D class variants, are modern guided missile destroyers designed to protect major capital ships such as aircraft carriers, and at at least one Type 052 almost certainly rides shotgun with Liaoning at all times.
Some of the ships are leaving wakes considerably longer than they are. These could be Type 022 fast attack craft. The Type 022 FACs are twin-hulled catamarans designed for coastal defense duties. Each displaces just 224 tons with a crew of 12, with a complement of eight C-803 anti-ship missiles. The PLAN has approximately 83 Type 022s spread out among the three fleet commands, each painted a variation on a blue seagoing camouflage scheme that, ironically, made it easier to identify each ship individually and produce a headcount.
This unique event was likely recorded by just three sources: Chinese ships visible in the images that are positioned to record the event, the U.S. intelligence community, and a company called Planet Labs. Planet maintains a fleet of more than 175 Dove imaging satellites circling the globe. Planet’s catching the PLAN in formation was not planned but was not accidental, either: the company’s Dove satellites cannot be tasked and operate in always-on mode, linescanning the earth’s landmass every day. The company’s satellites monitor the opean ocean in high activity areas, including the South China Sea.
