China Using ‘World’s Largest Antenna’ For Submarine Operations That Is ‘Five Times The Size Of New York City’

China is currently employing what is believed to be the world’s largest antenna to improve its surveillance and communication capabilities, allowing long-distance communications with submarines.

ALSO READ: Turkey’s Hurjet Challenges India’s Tejas LCA For Malaysian Fighter Jet Contract After JF-17 Exit — Reports

The exact site of the facility is unknown, however, it is thought to be located in the Dabie mountains, a protected nature reserve spanning the provinces of Hubei, Anhui, and Henan, South China Morning Post reported.

The antenna, which is made out of a network of cables and pylons similar to those seen in regular power lines, would appear from space as a massive cross measuring more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) long and wide.

Copper nodes, on the other hand, are deeply embedded in thick granite at the endpoints of those lines. Two strong subsurface transmitters, each capable of operating independently in the event that one is broken, charge one megawatt of electrical current and transform the Earth into a massive radio station. 

The facility was built to provide underwater communications across a distance of 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles), which is long enough to reach Guam, the largest US military post in the western Pacific, said project’s lead engineer Zha Ming and his colleagues, from the Wuhan Maritime Communication Research Institute. 

Receiving devices implanted 200 meters (700 feet) below the surface on the seafloor — can receive signals from the gigantic antenna 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) offshore, according to a study published in the Chinese Journal of Ship Research last month. 

In 2019, SCMP reported that China had finished building a giant experimental radio antenna on a piece of land almost five times the size of New York City. The antenna, which was constructed in a top-secret site, emits low-frequency signals that may be used to converse with submarines, allowing the navy to operate at deeper depths without having to resurface.

The project took 13 years to complete, and the antenna is housed in a 1,400-square-mile site. The ELF system can identify minerals and oil and can be utilized as a seismic sensor to comprehend what occurs to the ground before significant earthquakes, in addition to communicating with submarines.

However, SCMP made no mention in the latest report of whether the antenna stations in question are the same, but given their presumed location and operational goals, it can be inferred they are. 

The ELF Technology 

The extremely low frequency  (ELF) facility can create electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 300 Hz. These radio waves have the ability to travel long distances both above and below ground. Officially, the project is part of China’s 11th five-year plan for civilian uses, however, it can also be employed for military application. 

Scientists believe that a submarine hiding hundreds of meters beneath the sea can pick up its signals, eliminating the chance of the vessel having to re-emerge to receive transmissions. The project comes on the heels of China’s first military-grade super-low frequency transmission station, which was completed in 2009.

The following year, a Chinese nuclear submarine effectively spoke with the station from the deep sea, marking China the third country in the world to do so after the US and Russia.

China and Russia also collaborated on a test to explore how far a signal may travel through the surface. The signal was received by a Russian station from a distance of 7,000 kilometers (4,400 miles), but the enhanced distance came at a cost: the link was one-way and could only convey encrypted text messages. 

Since an ELF signal’s wave might be as vast as a continent, it’s tough to generate. To complete the task, a traditional radio tower would have to be at least 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) tall. China is not the first country to carry out a project like this. Previously, similar projects were carried out in other nations too. 

The concept of constructing an Earth-bound low-frequency antenna dates back to the 1960s. In 1968, the US Navy envisioned Project Sanguine, a massive ELF antenna that would have spanned two-fifths of Wisconsin and allowed submarines to communicate undersea. From the late 1980s, an antenna with two crossing lines, each about 70km (40 miles) long, was built and began emitting signals at a frequency of 76Hz.