China has delivered the world’s first seaborne drone carrier, the Zhu Hai Yun, capable of operating on its own. The unmanned carrier can be controlled remotely and navigate autonomously in open water. It will undertake marine scientific research and other observations. The Zhu Hai Yun entered its home of Zhuhai Gaolan port in Guangdong province on January 12 and was officially put into use after a year and a half of construction. Built by the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), it is the world’s first unmanned research ship with autonomous navigation and remote-control functions, and has been awarded the first intelligent ship certificate by the China Classification Society (CCS).
The Zhu Hai Yun has been designed and constructed following the principles of green intelligence, scientific support for unmanned systems and a “sense of the future.” Meanwhile, its power, propulsion, positioning , investigation support and intelligent systems have been independently developed by Chinese research teams. “This is the first professional sea trial of the Zhu Hai Yun, which aims to test its autonomous navigation performance and the launching of the unmanned craft,” said Chen Dake, Director of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory.
For the first time, the carrier navigated autonomously for 12 consecutive hours, and realized obstacle avoidance and path planning. It achieved the desired effect and validated the design, Chen added. The 88.5-meter-long intelligent unmanned carrier has a designed displacement of about 2,100 tons and a top speed of 18 knots. The ship has a spacious rear deck, which can carry a variety of unmanned air, sea and submarine observation instruments. It can carry out comprehensive marine survey tasks, such as ocean surveying and mapping, ocean observation, sea patrol and partial survey and sampling, the Global Times reports.
