India appears to have reconsidered its early November 2022 intention (see SubMatts) to “stop” Chinese PLAN spy ship Yuan Wang 6 from surveilling the Indian K or Agni series missile test(s).
India instead plans the less confrontational response of delaying the test(s) until later this month (November 23/24, 2022). BTW, this same source, perhaps incorrectly, talks of “K-12” SLBMs. K-12 SLBMs don’t exist according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Missile_family. K-15 appears more correct.
As well as avoiding confrontation India's date change of heart may, in part be due to:
- an additional PLAN spy ship Yuan Wang 5 entering the Indian Ocean, showing more determined Chinese resolve.
- There are several other ways China can optically and electronically “watch” the tests, particularly using a combination of satellites and Chinese landmass ground stations.
- India's original idea of keeping the PLAN spy ships out of India 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was/is not legally valid, as China would not be encroaching for economic reasons.
- and, in any case India's EEZ will not restrict Yuan Wang 5 and 6 from sitting just south of the southwestern extremity of the missile range "no fly zone" were the 2 ships can still "capture" missile flight data. Or the satellite(s) downlinks may reach the ships much further south into the central Indian Ocean. See map below courtesy Damien Symon Twitter via Swarajya November 12, 2022.
