“Currently, there are no regulations managing the use of UUVs both internationally and nationally,” Indonesian Navy chief of staff Adm. Yudo Margono said on Monday.

“So, we may propose a regulation, possibly a presidential regulation, to manage the operation of research vessels and the use of UUVs.”

Yudo was speaking at a press conference at the Naval Hydrography and Oceanography Center (Pushidorsal) in Ancol, North Jakarta, on a UUV found by a fisherman in Selayar Island waters, South Sulawesi, on Dec. 26. The UUV was found floating on the sea surface.

He said the UUV, which was displayed during the press conference, is made of aluminum, and has a length of 225 centimeters, with two wings of 50 cm each and a rear antenna of 93 cm. There was also a camera-like device on the body.

He said the Navy could not yet determine the origin or which party operated it.

“There is no marking or writing at all on the body so we cannot speculate on its origin,” Yudo said.

There has been speculation that the UUV is of Chinese origin, as its profile looks similar to the Huayi or Sea Wing UUV.

The device found by the fisherman is called an underwater sea glider, which operates in a similar fashion to an Argo float, Yudo said, referring to an international cooperation that uses robotic instruments to observe the temperature, salinity and currents in the Earth’s oceans.

Such Argo floats can be launched from a research vessel, which acts as a mother ship, and reach a depth of 2,000 meters with a speed of 10 knots and then are carried by the current while recording temperature and salinity profiles.

Argo floats can then resurface to send the data they have collected using satellite communication.

Yudo said Argo floats could operate in the seas for between four to seven years being controlled from the mother ship or simply following the sea current to collect data.

Similar to Argo floats, Yudo said sea gliders could also be released from a mother ship to carry out their mission by activating various sensors measuring CTD, chlorophyl, depth and oxygen.

CTD refers to Conductivity-Temperature-with-Depth profiler.

Sea gliders, however, could only operate for up to two years, Yudo said, while recording bathymetry data including depth, salinity, temperature and current direction.  

Yudo also said such data sent by those UUVs and their positions were accessible to all countries.

“UUVs can also record acoustic data, especially the presence of sea animals such as whales and dolphins, he said.

“The fishery industry can also use the data by looking into areas with a high presence of plankton, which means there are plenty of fish so the fishing fleet can be directed to such areas.”

Yudo emphasized that UUVs were used mostly in hydrography and oceanography surveys.

However, he also said UUVs could be used for industrial or defense purposes, depending on who was using them.

“For defense purposes, we can use data on depth and sea layers where submarines can be difficult to detect using sonar,” Yudo said.

Submarines could chart the deeper part of the sea or areas with thicker sea water, he added.

Yudo gave Pushidrosal chief Rear Adm. Agung Prasetiawan one month to dismantle and decipher data on the UUV to trace its owner, in cooperation with the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

Meanwhile, observers said Indonesia needed to strengthen its defense against such UUVs.

Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law expert at the University of Indonesia argued that the navy chief of staff's remark fueled a strong suspicion that the UUV was a spy device and not privately owned.

“In the world of intelligence, various instruments are used, even intelligence agents work quietly and any identifying markings, especially those related to the state, are deliberately omitted, so that if discovered it would not be easy for the country being spied on to point fingers,” he said in a statement.

Therefore, he said it was better for the Foreign Ministry to issue a strong statement saying that once it found out who was trying to spy on Indonesia, it would not hesitate to take tough and decisive action, referring to a previous espionage scandal with Australia.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said the ministry was still seeking more information from various government agencies before issuing a statement.

“The Foreign Ministry will coordinate with the Navy and relevant authorities to obtain more detailed information once the investigation is completed,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Professor of the laws of the sea Hasjim Djalal previously warned a number of times that Indonesia must defend its underwater territory and apply various underwater defense technologies in its strategic waterways.

He pointed out that the fact that many whales got lost and stranded on Indonesia’s shores, including in Aceh, in Seram Island, Maluku and Southeast Sulawesi indicated that there were various underwater devices on the archipelago’s seabed.

Eddy Pratomo, a professor of international law at Diponegoro University acknowledged that the finding was unprecedented but it had been a concern among maritime law experts. However, he advised that the government had to be careful to respond and should not refrain from making any pre-judgments.

He said officials must find out where it came from, whether it crashed, was carried by waves or dropped by someone, before making a response.

“If there are indications that it is an espionage tool against the state, we have to be firm in protesting […] but we have to first know who we are protesting to,” he said.