Chinese researchers have proposed a new model for protecting disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea, in which most surveillance and response activities would be carried out by autonomous aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles.
The concept involves creating a multilayered network of unmanned systems integrated through artificial intelligence. The proposal was presented in an article published in July in the Chinese military technology journal Command Control & Simulation. Its authors are researchers affiliated with the Chinese Coast Guard Academy and Dalian Maritime University.
According to the concept, a unified network consisting of several types of unmanned vehicles would operate around the islands and reefs. Aerial drones would conduct surveillance from the air, unmanned surface vessels would patrol the surrounding waters, while autonomous underwater vehicles would monitor areas inaccessible to conventional surveillance systems.
Artificial intelligence is expected to be used to process information collected from all of these platforms and identify potential threats. Such a system would provide continuous surveillance across several environments simultaneously — in the air, on the water’s surface, and underwater.
The authors view this approach as an alternative to traditional island defense, in which military personnel and crews of manned vessels perform most of the operations.
A large number of relatively inexpensive unmanned platforms would allow surveillance assets to be distributed across a much larger area while reducing the need for a permanent human presence at every location.
One of the advantages of the system, according to the researchers, is its resilience to losses. If individual vehicles are destroyed or communication with them is disrupted, the remaining elements of the network could continue operating. This redundancy is intended to prevent the entire system from failing because of the loss of individual drones.
The concept has emerged amid the rapid expansion of unmanned systems in military conflicts. Aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles allow intelligence and combat capabilities to be distributed across multiple environments, creating a more complex surveillance system for an adversary.
This technology could be particularly significant in the South China Sea, where the territorial and maritime claims of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan overlap.
China has already constructed and expanded infrastructure on several disputed islands and reefs, meaning autonomous systems could provide an additional layer of protection for existing facilities.
However, the proposal currently remains a research concept. The publication does not indicate that China has already established fully autonomous robotic bases on disputed islands.
If such an architecture were implemented, aerial drones could detect approaching aircraft and ships, surface vehicles could patrol the surrounding waters, and underwater systems could monitor concealed approaches to islands and reefs.
Combining this data would provide a more comprehensive picture of activity around remote facilities while simultaneously reducing the need to station large numbers of military personnel directly within the surveillance area.