China steals US hydrophones
An arrest of a Chinese citizen accused of illegally exporting hydrophones to China has set off alarm bells amongst US experts on naval warfare in the Pacific.
US Justice Department (DOJ) agents arrested Shuren Qin on 21 June for allegedly exporting 78 hydrophones, used to ‘detect and monitor sound underwater’, to the Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU), a ‘military research institute…for anti-submarine warfare [ASW]’.
According to the DOJ press release, from July 2015 to December 2016, Qin allegedly exported ‘remotely operated side-scan sonar systems, unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned surface vehicles, robotic boats and hydrophones’.
They have military applications and can be
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