In the past, there was no better solution than dispatching vessels to sea to deal with unregistered fishing boats that intruded into oilfield operation zones. Each deployment cost between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan, took a long time and had limited coverage, often resulting in the situation where intruders were spotted but could not be brought under control. Today, drones equipped with high-definition cameras, infrared thermal imaging systems and high-volume loudspeakers, supported by a low-altitude intelligent connected platform, enable a closed-loop management process: detection, identification, expulsion and evidence collection. 

Meanwhile, another drone may be flying along subsea pipelines toward the open waters of the eastern oilfield. A traditional tugboat takes more than four hours to inspect the 70-kilometer sub-sea pipeline, while a drone can finish the task in less than one hour. Equipped with AI-based recognition algorithms, these drones can automatically mark abnormal areas on pipelines and transmit data back to the platform in real time. 

As offshore oil and gas development, deep-sea resource exploration and maritime shipping industries continue to expand, demand for operations in high-risk envirionments has surged, such as subsea pipeline inspection, underwater emergency search and rescue, and marine ecological monitoring has surged. In recent years, China has formed a sizable fleet of intelligent equipment centered on surface drones, unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), manned submersibles and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), building a three-dimensional maritime security network. 

Ding Zhongjun, deputy director of the National Deep Sea Center, noted that aerial drones can quickly reach targeted sea areas in response to emergencies including oil spills at sea, personnel falling overboard and out-of-control vessels. They transmit real-time data on spill spread and the location of people in distress, and deliver emergency supplies simultaneously, filling the observation gap in the early stages of  traditional rescue operations. 

Furthermore, domestically developed manned and unmanned submersibles have become primary equipment for critical high-risk underwater operations amid extreme deep-sea conditions such as high pressure and low temperatures. Statistics show that in the first half of 2026, the Jiaolong submersible completed research cruises in the western Pacific and the South China Sea, making 40 dives in total. The Fendouzhe submersible finished a trans-Pacific scientific research cruise, with 63 dives, 50 of which reached depths of over 6,000 meters. The two submersibles collected a large number of biological and geological specimens as well as high-definition underwater images across four extreme deep-sea environments: hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, trenches and abyssal zones. Adopting in-situ deep-sea organism detection technologies based on artificial intelligence identification and environmental DNA testing, they have greatly improved the efficiency of deep-sea exploration and sampling accuracy, enhanced the capacity for investigating seabed resources in complex deep-sea habitats, and set a new technical paradigm for deep-sea resource exploration and exploitation, as well as ecological environment assessment and protection. 

In addition, deep-sea unmanned submersibles including the Hailong series remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the Haidou No.1 ROV and the Qianlong series autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have been put into regular scientific research and application. They can conduct tasks such as pipeline damage repair, debris removal and deep-sea archaeology in turbid, high-pressure and low-temperature deep-sea environments. 

At present, intelligent perception functions including embodied intelligence, network self-generation, precise target identification and autonomous tracking are being continuously upgraded, breaking down data barriers between various pieces of equipment operating in the air, space, land, sea and seabed. 

For example, drones conduct large-scale rapid screening of the sea surface; unmanned surface vehicles carry out fixed-point monitoring and communication relay; autonomous underwater vehicles complete underwater positioning and simple disposal; manned submersibles conduct in-depth surveys and personnel search and rescue as needed. This forms a full-chain closed loop of emergency response featuring aerial detection, surface support and underwater operations. Meanwhile, a digital twin system developed for deep-sea equipment trains fault prediction models using massive field data, issuing advance warnings for potential risks such as pipeline fatigue and equipment leakage, shifting the work mode from passive rush repair to proactive early warning. 

It is reported that the Pangu Marine Intelligent Forecasting Large Model, the first of its kind in China deeply integrated with AI technologies and supported by full-stack domestically developed computing power, has been put into engineering application. It achieves a revolutionary leap in marine forecasting from daily updates to minute-level accuracy. The Ocean AI provides intelligent services for multiple scenarios such as marine early warning and disaster prevention and mitigation, solving the problem that general large models fail to adapt to marine application scenarios. A series of large models including the Haijing AI large model, the Langya 2.0 global intelligent marine phenomenon forecasting large model, the Nanming marine large model, and the DTO Engine 2.0 marine digital twin engine have been launched successively. They will support the application of marine ecological protection, marine ranches, offshore wind power, marine scientific research and other fields in the future. 

According to Ding Zhongjun, China will further improve an integrated system of aerial, surface and underwater equipment, accelerate research on core technologies such as multi-agent collaboration and deep-sea AI perception, and expand applications in deep-sea mining, subsea power grids and open-sea search and rescue, laying a solid security foundation for the development of the marine economy. 

Source: CCTV.com