According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), an aerial photograph has surfaced, capturing an RAAF P-8 Poseidon plane flying over a Chinese surveillance ship. The incident occurred last week as the Chinese vessel, identified as the Dongdiao Class Auxiliary General Intelligence (AGI) vessel and bearing the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet designation number 793, was en route to Australia. The image was taken from another Australian military aircraft, while both were in international waters over the Coral Sea.

As per reports, the Chinese vessel's presence in the vicinity of the Queensland coast, and possibly as far south as Shoalwater Bay, raised concerns about its intentions. It was suspected that the ship was attempting to gather sensitive information regarding the international Exercise Talisman Sabre, which was underway at the time.

In response to the situation, Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Greg Bilton took action, deploying a P-8 surveillance aircraft on Thursday morning to establish contact with the Chinese ship. The move aimed to address the potential security implications of the vessel's proximity to the military exercises in the region.

The incident highlights the ongoing tensions and complexities in the region's maritime domain, and the efforts made by Australian authorities to ensure the safety and security of their military operations and sensitive information.

"It located the AGI, we hailed the AGI, we got a courteous response as you'd expect in normal interactions in international waters," General Bilton told the ABC while observing Exercise Talisman Sabre activities.

According to General Bilton, there remains a possibility that the Chinese AGI could change its position from central Queensland to Australia's top end. However, he expressed doubt regarding the likelihood of such a shift taking place.

"It is a fair few days' sail time, so to get from here to Darwin is four to six days, so I think it's going to stay in the region and observe the activities we're doing on the east coast".

As the operations chief mentioned, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) anticipates that the sophisticated spy ship will continue to stay outside Australia's territorial waters while closely monitoring the extensive military exercises.

"It will stay outside of our contiguous zones, so 24 nautical miles beyond, that's consistent with international law – their [PLAN's] behaviour on previous exercises has been exactly that and I don't expect to change."

In response to inquiries about potential Australian or United States submarines being deployed for surveillance of the visiting Chinese vessel, General Bilton declined to provide any comments.

Earlier, defense and security experts had anticipated that China might dispatch two spy ships to observe the Talisman Sabre exercises, considering the vast scale of the military activities occurring from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and along Australia's east coast.

Australia has confirmed its decision to acquire 20 new American-made military cargo planes, as announced by Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. The purchase will include C-130 Hercules aircraft, a reduction from the initially approved 24 units by the US Congress in the previous year. The investment, amounting to nearly $10 billion, aims to replace 12 aging C-130s currently stationed at Richmond Air Base in Sydney.

Additionally, Defense sources suggest that the government might soon reveal plans to procure two KC-30s, which possess the capability to conduct air-to-air refueling for other RAAF aircraft during mid-air operations.

Image source:The Australian