CLASSIFIED

YAOGAN-25 01A

Chinese ELINT Naval Ocean Surveillance (JB-8 Triplet) · CASC / PLA

Lead satellite of the Yaogan-25 ELINT triplet, part of the older Jianbing-8 (JB-8) class of Chinese naval surveillance satellites flying in a 680-mile orbit at 63.4° inclination — a high-altitude, high-inclination orbit that provides excellent coverage of both hemispheres. At 680 miles, the triplet's wide-area visibility enables it to detect radio emissions from naval vessels across enormous stretches of ocean simultaneously. The 63.4° inclination was chosen to provide strong coverage of US Navy operating areas in the North Pacific and Arctic approaches — the routes most relevant to potential US carrier strike group movements toward the Western Pacific. Yaogan-25A and its companions have been operational since 2014, over a decade of continuous ocean surveillance.