Chinese Wing Loong Drones Disguised As Wind Turbines Seized By Italy

 

Chinese Wing Loong Drones Disguised As Wind Turbines Seized By Italy 

JUL 3, 2024 

In a bizarre turn of events, Chinese-made Wing Loong drones, apparently headed to Libya, have been seized by Italian authorities off the coast of southern Italy. The disassembled drones were in crates that were marked as containing parts for wind turbines, in what seems to have been an effort to evade the United Nations arms embargo imposed on Libya and get them into the hands of Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar.

Italian officials impounded three containers filled with weapons, including drones, and two drone control stations, at the port of Gioia Tauro in southern Italy on June 18, The Times of London recently reported.

According to unnamed sources, the containers in question were seized after being unloaded from the cargo vessel MSC Arina, which had arrived in the Mediterranean from China. It appears that the plan had been to load those containers on another vessel that would then make the trip to Benghazi in Libya.

Last weekend, meanwhile, Italian investigators seized another three suspect containers that arrived in the same port on another cargo ship, the MSC Apolline.

Photos and videos that have since emerged reveal the extent of the efforts to conceal the identity of the contents. Indeed, reports from Italy suggest that the drone parts had been placed inside protective coverings of the same type used to transport wind turbine blades.

Italian customs officials alongside a still-wrapped Wing Loong fuselage, which bears a slogan relating to the energy-saving properties of wind power.

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Italian officials take the protective wrapping off a Wing Loong fuselage. The end carries a label claiming that it conceals a “wind power maintenance hatch.” 

A Wing Loong fuselage is unloaded from a container. 

Intelligence about the presence of the weapons was reportedly provided to the Italian authorities by the United States. Other accounts from Italy suggest that the containers were discovered as part of a standard check, which revealed anomalies in the customs documentation that accompanied them.

Clearly, this was a very deliberate attempt to disguise this military equipment as civilian cargo, apparently including forged documents, and it’s not clear what course of action the Italian prosecutors will take next. It’s also unclear what part if any at all the Chinese government played in the smuggling operation.They could potentially have been sourced elsewhere secondhand.

The apparent recipient of the drones — and potentially other, undisclosed arms that were also part of the same shipments — was General Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA), in charge of the east of the country. Haftar has held power here since an effort to conquer the rest of the country ground to a halt in 2020. This had been preceded by intense fighting with the forces of the Government of National Unity (GNA), during a civil war that had raged since the fall of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Khalifa Haftar (second left) waves after a speech at a rally marking the 71st anniversary of the Libyan independence from Italy in the eastern city of Benghazi on December 24, 2022.

The United Nations-backed GNA is today based in Tripoli and headed up by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, with the country now effectively divided into eastern and western parts, both with their own governments and armed forces.

Wing Loong drones — both Wing Loong I and Wing Loong II versions — have already been widely employed by the LNA in the fight against the GNA.

In the past, these Chinese-made drones have reportedly been provided to the LNA by the United Arab Emirates, with multiple claims that the Emiratis have also been responsible for operating the drones in the country.

Fighters loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) secure the area of Abu Qurain, halfway between Tripoli and the second city of Benghazi, against forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, on July 20, 2020. 

The medium-altitude, long-endurance drones, which are akin to a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper, have been used extensively. In the process, there have been multiple losses of LNA-operated Wing Loongs, with examples shot down by the GNA, by airstrikes, by friendly fire, and in combat-related incidents.

Developed primarily for surveillance, the Wing Loong series can also be fitted with air-to-ground weapons, including Blue Arrow-7 missiles, providing a powerful strike capability to Haftar’s forces. The shipments seized by the Italians reportedly did not contain any weapons for the drones. With a typical range of around 1,000 miles and an endurance of approximately 20 hours, depending on payload and other factors, the Wing Loong is able to roam across the whole of Libya.

A Wing Loong II drone of the kind that has been used by the LNA, on display on the opening day of Airshow China 2021 on September 28, 2021, in Zhuhai, in the Guangdong province of China. 
Apparently in direct response to the appearance of the Wing Loong in the Libyan conflict, Turkey began to supply its Bayraktar TB2 drone to the rival GNA. With a smaller payload and shorter range than the Wing Loong, the TB2 nevertheless quickly became an important part of the GNA’s inventory, also being used for air strikes as well as surveillance.

However, it now seems that the United Arab Emirates is less willing to support the LNA and its drone operations in particular, following a high-profile incident in 2020 in which a Wing Loon operated with Emirati assistance was reportedly used to strike a military academy in Tripoli, killing 26 cadets. An investigation by the BBC suggested that the weapon used was a Chinese-made Blue Arrow-7 missile.

TRIPOLI, LIBYA – JANUARY 04: Pictures of the twenty-six students who were killed in Haftar forces’ drone attacks in a Hadba military school, are seen during the remembrance to mark first anniversary of the attack in Tripoli, Libya on January 04, 2021.

Whatever the status of Emirati support for LNA drone operations, the multiple losses that have been reported to date would provide ample reason for the acquisition of follow-on batches from China.

For China, meanwhile, it seems that the incentive to sell drones to Libya may be driven by a demand for Libyan oil. The Times of London reports that, back in April, two Libyans were charged in Canada after it had been discovered that they were brokering a deal to send drones to the LNA in exchange for “millions of drums” of oil, according to a Canadian official.

While this would clearly contravene the United Nations sanctions on Libya, which prohibit the export of oil from that country, as well as imports of arms, it also presents a difficult situation for Italy.

Under the leadership of the far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has sought to build relations with General Haftar, as well as with Prime Minister Dbeibah, to try and work with them to disrupt migration routes from North Africa to Italy.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah (right) welcomes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as she arrives for a meeting in Tripoli
 on May 7, 2024. 

At the same time, Haftar has been moving increasingly closer to Russia, which has led to concerns in Washington. For Moscow, Haftar is becoming a key ally in North Africa, providing permission for Russian vessels to unload weapons in the port of Tobruk, from where they can be delivered to support Russian military activities and Moscow-backed forces throughout the continent.

Meanwhile, the standoff in Libya continues, with armed drones now well established as a highly important capability for both sides.

While the LNA and GNA started the civil war with fleets of combat aircraft, including Cold War-era French- and Soviet-made jets, these have suffered extensive losses, and their current serviceability — as well as availability of trained crews — is now highly questionable.

A veteran MiG-21 Fishbed fighter operated by forces loyal to the internationally recognized Libyan government takes off from Benina Air Base, south of Benghazi, on December 10, 2015. 

Drones have filled that gap, conducting thousands of airstrikes, according to reports. In 2019, prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, United Nations Special Envoy Ghassan Salamé described the Libyan civil war as “the largest drone war in the world.”

While Haftar’s offensive may have failed in 2020, the country is still uneasily divided. Tensions remain, and with them the potential to reignite the war.

Meanwhile, both sides are clearly well aware of the advantages that drones can provide, both for surveillance and strike, especially over long distances. With that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that Haftar’s forces would go to fairly extreme efforts to get their hands on more examples of the prized Chinese-made Wing Loong.