Steven Stover’s Post

A great primer by Helen Davidson on China's Maritime Militia, the PRC's primary means of grey zone warfare across the IndoPacific. Quotes from Gregory Poling leader of the amazing team at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)'s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. "The maritime militia has existed for decades but has become more professional, better equipped, and more militarised under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who has overhauled China’s armed forces since taking power in 2012. It is made up of two main forces. One is the professional fleet of at least 100 purpose-built boats which have the appearance of fishing vessels. The other fleet, known as the Spratly Backbone Fishing Vessels (SBFV), is a larger group of actual fishing boats that operate out of ports across Hainan and Guangdong, and have been drafted into China’s missions. The professional fleet consists of stronger boats with better, often military-grade equipment. They’re usually visible on satellite tracking platforms swarming around disputed locations. The SBFV is harder to spot, and usually have lower grade satellite transmitters or none at all. Some have had structural and technological upgrades."

Taiwan badly needs an open-source maritime domain awareness program focused on the Taiwan Strait. With 60% of the world's commerce going through the First Island Chain, it is a no-brainer. ingeniSPACE has the data and algorithms to hold concrete conversations with partners and allies without risking national technical means. It is the best way shine a light on the PLAN's Maritime Militia grey zone warfare activities, e.g. persistent monitoring of the Taiwan's harbors and military, or their repeated severing of submarine cables that are so critical to Taiwan's global business in finance, telecoms, and e-commerce businesses. https://lnkd.in/gk9fhtJp

China is by far the world's largest producer of "caught" (non-farmed) fish, with 15 percent of the world total, and the largest exporter of caught products. Of the 3.1 million fishing vessels in Asia, China operates 864,000. Second, China's growing dependence on maritime lines of communication for trade in energy and other goods has increased Beijing's determination to protect strategic waterways within and across China's maritime border. The growing need to safeguard maritime territories and jurisdictional waters in China's neighboring seas has incentivized the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which has focused on preparing for a Taiwan scenario since the 1990s, to share the burden of new missions with non-military state actors. In its Y2K defense white paper, China first described its border defense as a "joint military-civilian system of land and sea border management, led by the armed forces and with shared responsibilities between military and civilian authorities." Beijing's civilian maritime militia dominates the seas and oceans. Exposing and intercepting it to prevent spying is imperative. #ExtremaRatio #China #PLA #XiJinping Read our report at 👇 https://lnkd.in/d_UJTQVf https://lnkd.in/d__9PjhT

Had to share this article on how Latin American navies combat Illegal, Unreported, or Unregulated (IUU) fishing. It mentions the critical role of navies and coast guards in monitoring and intercepting IUU fishing vessels in the region, emphasizing the need for innovative strategies to address this persistent threat. The impacts of IUU are severe. Overfishing and habitat destruction threaten the livelihoods of small-scale artisanal fishermen who have fished these waters for generations. Coastal communities that depend on fishing and tourism suffer economically. Biodiversity and the health of the Humboldt Current ecosystem, one of the most productive in the world, is jeopardized. IUU fishing is a global menace that hits close to home in Ecuador. Foreign fishing fleets, often from Asia, exploit our waters illegally, depleting fish stocks, harming biodiversity, and undermining our economy. We must protect our oceans and safeguard the future of coastal regions. #IUUFishing #MaritimeSecurity #SustainableFishing #Ecuador

“𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢’𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢, 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘫𝘪𝘯𝘨’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘚𝘦𝘢.” 📰 Firstpost recently published an insightful article about China’s "shadow armada," shedding light on the intricate workings of this maritime militia and its strategic maneuvers in the South China Sea. It delves into how these vessels, ostensibly civilian, are strategically deployed to support China's geopolitical objectives, contributing to tensions in the region. 🛰 At Unseenlabs, our advanced RF detection technology offers a technological answer to these issues. Our unique monosatellite system can detect and track vessels even when they turn off their AIS transponders, providing critical data for maritime security. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 👉 https://swll.to/1P52QhF Read the full article here: https://swll.to/UNL6nDH #China #Maritime #Space

Selling a bunch of LSRM anti-ship missiles with mobile HIMARS ground based launch platforms would be a relatively easy way to bolster the Self Defence anti-coercive capacity of friends and partners. The PLA-N would think twice about Thomas Shoal if it had a battery of 4LSRM and HIMARS is being considered as a HARPOON launch platform. Now add a HARM missile to the mix and it becomes very dangerous to get in close and your stand-off support is not going to stay or be around long once LSRM takes the fight to the cruiser over the horizon. Now we just need the rapid deployment people to modify a few of our weapons to actively seek a GPS jammer. Drop a SDB or any GPS guided munition programmed to home on a GPS jammer and add it to the mix. It either goes to its programmed target or if there is a jammer follows it home. They either turn off the jammers, reduce employment or loose them and the crew. Integrate them with GPS guided artillery and those useless shells in inventory get a second life. The development of offensive and defensive weapons has been iterative since the stone and shield were first employed - so some body is working this but the rapid fielding system is broken since the 1960s.

Report: Beijing's civilian maritime militia dominates the seas and oceans. Exposing and intercepting it to prevent spying is imperative Abstract The case of #Sansha City is strong evidence of the existence of #China's civilian maritime militia. It was discovered in 2021 that the state-owned #fishing company responsible for Sansha City's #maritimemilitia fleet managed projects involving classified national security information, a strong indicator that the company's ships are engaged in more than just fishing. In addition to monitoring the fleet owned by this company, there is evidence that one of its ships has been used to test an experimental command and communication system built with foreign technology, which likely turned the ship into a mobile communication and surveillance platform capable of transmitting information to authorities ashore. Some of the communication technologies installed on ships in the "Qiongsanshayu" fleet also indicate that they are more than just fishing vessels. According to a February 2018 environmental impact assessment, the #Hainan Communications Administration recently conducted a project to test an "emergency satellite command and communication" system aboard a vessel for maritime law enforcement, fisheries and emergency management in the #SouthChinaSea. The ultimate goal of this project was to build satellite links between shipboard systems, land-based communications networks and an emergency command center, effectively extending information flows to and from distant areas of the disputed South China Sea. The experimental system on Qiongsanshayu 00209 also uses foreign #satellite technology from companies in the #UnitedStates, #SouthKorea and #Japan and other. #China could leverage a #US defense contractor's counter-surveillance technology to protect city communications from U.S. signals intelligence collection efforts. U.S. intelligence collection in the South China Sea region has long irked the #PLA, which maintains numerous sensitive facilities in the area, from #submarine bases to #missile sites. Over the past 20 years, #Chinese forces have repeatedly intercepted U.S. #intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms operating in or above the South China Sea. These interceptions have caused serious accidents on several occasions, such as in 2001, when an #PLA fighter jet crashed into a U.S. EP-3 intelligence plane, killing the Chinese pilot and forcing the U.S. plane to make an emergency landing in Chinese territory. However, the use of civilian maritime entities for military use is not a phenomenon limited to #Chinese #vessels sailing in the South China Sea. China has the largest military and civilian navy in the world. On July 3, 2023, at a conference at the #Senate of the Italian Republic entitled "The Future of #NATO and the Role of Italy," organized by the @ATA_Italia  spoke about China's #LiminalWarfare and the use of Chinese civilian maritime entities for military use.

✒️ The role of the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia: Implications for Maritime Security and European interests 🌊 "China’s fishing operations are not merely commercial endeavors, as the fleet also serves to assert Chinese maritime claims and convey political messages and operating under military instructions. A significant component of this strategy is the People’s armed Forces maritime Militia (PAFMM), which functions as a military auxiliary force tasked with collecting military intelligence when deemed necessary. " 🔎 Niklas Swanstrom explores the multifaceted role of China’s fishing fleet, particularly the PAFMM, and its implications for international security.  ❗ This paper examines its role and implications for international order security, but also sets elements for Europeans and other regional actors to face this new form of naval warfare. ➡️ Find the paper here: https://lnkd.in/dN44abBR This paper is a EuroHub4Sino Policy Paper, published originally on European Hub for Contemporary China - EuroHub4Sino's website. Maud Descamps 邓琳, Yifei Zhu, PhD, Fatoumata Diallo, Brian I.

The proven #P8 Poseidon takes to the skies at #FIA2024. The Royal Air Force (RAF)'s nine P-8A Poseidon aircraft increase protection of the UK’s seas and homeland with unmatched anti-submarine, anti-surface, maritime patrol, and search and rescue capabilities. The UK is one of nine countries that have chosen the P-8, including Germany, Norway, Canada and the United States.