Fishermen pulls Wave Glider drone from coast of Yancheng

CHINESE fishermen have recovered a drone boat off the eastern coast of the Chinese mainland, and officials suspect that it is a “reconnaissance device secretly placed by a foreign country,” according to state-owned outlet CCTV.

The fishing boat skipper, who found the device, Wang Suo, told state media that his net seemed extra heavy when he began to haul it in.

He sped up the process, thinking that he had caught a lot of fish. Instead, he pulled up a black device about 10 feet long.

Given its strange shape, he reported it and turned it over to local officials for investigation.

Images of the device show a surfboardshaped unit with antennas and solar panels on top, with an attached device fitted with ten horizontal fins – virtually identical in appearance to the Wave Glider reconnaissance drone built by Boeing’s Liquid Robotics division.

The Wave Glider is used by the US Navy and the Royal Navy, among others.

Wave Glider-shaped surveillance drones have made media headlines before, including the unit discovered by HM Coastguard on the UK’s Isle of Tiree last October.

It was held pending identification of the owner, but no one claimed it.

According to CCTV, the glider was recovered off the coast of Yancheng, just north of Shanghai.

Military commentator Song Zhongping told South China Morning Post that surveillance drones of this kind can be used to gather basic oceanographic data that is very valuable for submarine and anti-submarine warfare.

“These vehicles can transfer information via satellite, which makes them more efficient and a great threat to China’s national security,” Song said.

“It could have been working for a long time, continuously collecting data on the marine environment in the waters around China,” said defense commentator Tang Jiansheng, speaking to CCTV.