
The Chinese satellite tracking vessel, Yuan Wang 7, called at Cape Town on 18 September following a tracking cruise that took the sophisticated vessel into the South Atlantic.
Back in late March 2023 a Chinese ballistic missile and space satellite tracking vessel, Yuan Wang 5, called into Durban en route to the South Atlantic and the monitoring of the re-entry of the secretive Chinese Spaceplane. The political furore that erupted with its visit was immense, due to it being considered to be a Chinese PLAN military spy ship, which in many ways it is. She headed off to the South Atlantic after a five day stopover.
In late May 2023, almost two months later, after the successful return of the Spaceplane, Yuan Wang 5 called back into Cape Town, whilst en route back to China. Fast forward to August 2024 and the arrival of yet another Chinese ballistic missile and space satellite tracking vessel into Durban went by almost unnoticed.
Back on 18 August this year, the Chinese ballistic missile and space satellite tracking vessel Yuan Wang 7 sailed into Durban harbour, again whilst heading to a station somewhere in the South Atlantic Ocean, where she would again track the re-entry back to Earth of the secretive Chinese Spaceplane. Initially, it was thought her visit was to be for four days.
Her stay in Durban was solely for logistic purposes, and possibly for mission crew to board, as well as for the usual requirement for bunkers, stores and fresh provisions. However, after just 11 hours alongside at A/B berth on the Point, she sailed from Durban. Her AIS indicated that her next destination was to be Cape Town, with an ETA of 22 September.
On 18 September, at 09:00 in the morning, the Yuan Wang 7 (IMO 9804485) arrived off Cape Town, from her tracking sojourn somewhere deep within the South Atlantic Ocean. She entered Cape Town harbour, proceeding into the Duncan Dock, and she went alongside the Eastern Mole. As always, such a berth for such a vessel can only be for purposes of logistics and uplifts.
Built at the Jiangnan Shipyard, at Shanghai in China, Yuan Wang 7 was launched in October 2015, and commissioned in July 2016. She is 225 metres in length and has a gross registered tonnage of 27,180 tons. She is powered by two MAN-B&W 8L48/60 eight cylinder, four stroke, main engines producing a total power output of 19,416 bhp (14,280 kW), giving her a service speed of 16 knots, and a maximum speed of 20 knots. For added manoeuvrability she has a bow transverse thruster.
Able to withstand a Level 12 Tropical Revolving Storm, i.e. Typhoon, Yuan Wang 7 has an endurance of 100 days, and is capable of operating in any Ocean, anywhere between 60° North and 60° South. She has a helideck and hangar, capable of operating either a Changhe Z-8, which is a copy of the French SA321 Super Frelon helicopter, or a Harbin Z-9, which is a copy of the French AS365 Dauphin helicopter.
She was designed by the 708th Research Institute of the Chinese state owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), and has an extensive tracking fit. It includes both C band, and S band, monopulse tracking radars, up to 12 metres in diameter, cinetheodolite ranging and tracking systems, velocimetry systems, satellite tracking and control computers, and a range of communications equipment that includes HF, VHF, UHF and SATCOM, providing secure telephone, radio, facsimile, and data links.
She carries a shipboard complement of over 400 persons, made up of ship’s operating crew, technicians, tracking scientists, and PLAN military officials. What is strange is how on arrival in both Durban and Cape Town, that despite the number of people aboard, all have very obviously been given strict instructions to stay off the decks, as there was no-one to be seen along the whole length of her 225 metres.
She is owned by China Satellite Launch, of Jiangyin in China, and both operated and managed by China Satellite Maritime Tracking and Control (CSMTC), also of Jiangyin, and whose houseflag is displayed on her two funnels. She is homeported at the Jiangyin Port, located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, northwest of Shanghai.
Until April 2024, all vessels of CSMTC were subordinate to the People’s Liberation Army Navy Strategic Support Force (PLANSSF). As of today, CSMTC is subordinate to the PLAN Aerospace Force.
She was purpose built, as are all her fleet mates, originally for the tracking of the Shenzhou Manned Space Missions, and the Tiangong Space Laboratory. She is also utilised for the tracking and support of Chinese Military Satellites, and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), launched by the PLANSSF, or the new PLAN Aerospace Force. All vessels in the fleet are assigned by the China Maritime Satellite Telemetry and Control Department, of Jiangyin.
There have been seven Yuan Wang vessels built, of which four are still active. They are not a specific class of vessel, with all receiving the name Yuan Wang followed by a number as each entered service, with the first built in 1977, and named Yuan Wang 1, and the latest being Yuan Wang 7.
Her mission on this occasion was to track the return to earth of the Chinese Spaceplane. This is such a secretive piece of space unmanned machinery that it has not yet been given an official name by the Chinese authorities, despite it conducting three full return missions. It is thought to be the Shenlong spacecraft, which is analogous to the US NASA Boeing X-37B unmanned spaceplane.
Shenlong was launched from the Jiuquan Spaceport, located in the Gobi Desert, on a Long March 2F Rocket back on 14 December 2023. She returned to Earth on 6 September, landing at the Lop Nur PLAN Air Base, located in Xinjiang Province, whilst Yuan Wang 7 was on tracking location in the South Atlantic Ocean, after a spaceflight lasting 268 days. Whilst it was in space Shenlong was noted by earth tracking stations to have increased her orbit from 300 kilometres, up to 600 kilometres, indicating a testing of her manoeuvring capabilities in space. In June, she was observed to have deployed a satellite from her cargo bay. She then performed various manoeuvres around the satellite, known as Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO), before recapturing it.
India is currently engaged in a geopolitical battle against China, despite BRICS, in regard to China making increasing moves to militarily occupy the Indian Ocean region, which is considered to be India’s backyard. India is also a nuclear state, and has an arsenal of ICBMs, which it tests regularly. India, unlike some other BRICS members, follows International Law.
As such, prior to any ICBM test, they issue a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), as well as Maritime Navigation Warnings, which are an international obligation, under United Nations ICAO and IMO requirements, to warn both civilian aviation and shipping operators, and military operators, of issues that might affect their flights, or routings, over the region. They are transmitted worldwide, on international aviation and maritime communications networks.
Earlier in June, the Yuan Wang 07, also entered the Indian Ocean region just three days before India put out a warning about a 415 km No-fly zone from Balasore, in Odisha State, where India has an integrated missile test range. After loitering off Gujarat State, on the west coast of India, Yuan Wang 7 returned to China. In what has become a pattern, the ships were sailing near areas that have been declared a no-fly zone by India’s aviation authorities through NOTAMs.
The pattern is corroborated by the fact that in April 2023 Yuan Wang 7 arrived in the Indian Ocean just 7 days after the issue of a similar NOTAM by India. The Indians duly delayed the launch of the Agni ICBM, with no set date launch date given, and Yuan Wang 7 then left the region. These coincidences have been repeated in exactly the same manner with Yuan Wang 3 in March 2022, Yuan Wang 6 in November 2022, Yuan Wang 5 in December 2022, and with Yuan Wang 3 in March 2023, all turning up off India prior to an Agni ICBM launch.
Back in Cape Town, the visit of Yuan Wang 7 lasted for a full seven days, and at 17:00 in the late afternoon of 25 September, she was ready to head home back to China, with her AIS set as showing her next destination to be Shanghai. She duly sailed, and at present her course appears to be taking her on a routing directly towards the Sunda Strait, and into the South China Sea. However, her ETA in Shanghai is given as 3 November, which is a 39 day voyage.
On this homeward voyage, carried out at her service speed of 16 knots, such a voyage would take just 20 days, over a calculated distance of 7,700 nautical miles. She is currently averaging 17.5 knots, and the question is whether or not her ETA is wildly inaccurate, or she will shortly be turning north to, once more, arrive unannounced off the shores of India, or call at pro-China Maldives, or Chinese controlled Hambantota port in Sri Lanka.
Written by Jay Gates for Africa Ports & Ships and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.