Underwater gliders found in Indonesian Waters | Janes analysis
11 January 2021
by Kelvin Wong
Key points
An unidentified autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), believed to be of Chinese origin, was discovered off Selayar Island in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province in late December 2020, following the recovery of comparable systems in the Riau Islands in March 2019 and Masalembu Islands in January 2020.
The location of the latest discovery is also close to strategic waterways used by international traffic – such as the Lombok Strait that connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Indonesian media reported in late December 2020 that a Iocal fisherman had discovered an unidentified “missile-like” object in waters off Selayar Island in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province around 20 December and handed it over to the Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) on 26 December 2020.