Role & capabilities
- Underwater survey
- Environmental assessment
- Primary domain
- Underwater
- System type
- Underwater glider
- Developer / manufacturer
- Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Origin / production countries
- China
- Other names
- Sea Wings
- Variants / configurations
- Haiyi 1000; Deep-diving Haiyi demonstrator
- Operators / programme customers
- Chinese oceanographic research expeditions
Evidence & current status
Academy pages include republished reports of scientific work. No naval acceptance or universal family performance envelope is established.
Haiyi, often translated as Sea Wings, is a Chinese underwater-glider family developed at the Shenyang Institute of Automation. These vehicles collect oceanographic information over extended periods using buoyancy-driven movement. The family includes different depth and endurance configurations, so the best record from one demonstrator is not a specification for every Haiyi.
Academy accounts describe a Haiyi 1000 observation mission in 2017 and a later Indian Ocean expedition involving twelve gliders. The 2020 expedition returned temperature, salinity, turbidity and oxygen measurements; its combined distance refers to the group, not one vehicle's single-charge range. Separately, a deep-diving Haiyi reached 6,329 metres in 2017.
Oceanographic data can support multiple civil and defence applications, but those applications do not establish the operational status of a named naval fleet. This entry therefore documents scientific use and the relevant technology while keeping military programme identification open. It also distinguishes Haiyi gliders from propeller-driven AUVs and from Haidou research robots, which have different propulsion, handling and mission characteristics.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Buoyancy-driven underwater glider family | Published configuration or reported trial baseline; not a guarantee for all variants. Source ↗ |
| Hull / propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Displacement / mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Operating depth | 6,329 m reached by a deep-diving demonstrator in 2017 | Record applies to that demonstrator, not all Haiyi variants. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Temperature, salinity, turbidity and dissolved-oxygen observations in the 2020 expedition | Published configuration or reported trial baseline; not a guarantee for all variants. Source ↗ |
| Communications / control | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Launch / deployment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.