The People’s Liberation Army has outlined ways it is strengthening the navy’s data analytics capability and collecting large amounts of information about foreign vessels and aircraft. In a full-page feature published on Monday, the official PLA Daily newspaper described how data analysts on the Yancheng, a Type 054A guided-missile frigate, had been working with radar operators to collect sonar data from foreign ships. “Data collection has become one of our key tasks in regular training, which is now an integral part of our detachment,” the report said, quoting a commander from the PLA’s North Sea Fleet. The ship was launched in 2011 and did not originally have a sonar system, but the report said it had been upgraded and can now take part in anti-submarine operations as well as using anti-ship missile data it collected during previous drills that simulated an attack by multiple drones.