Chinese AI tracking companies with ties to the People’s Liberation Army are marketing detailed intelligence on US military movements during the Iran war, built entirely from publicly available satellite imagery, flight data, and shipping records, according to a Washington Post investigation.
- Washington Post reporters Cade Cadell and Lyric Li identified at least two Hangzhou-based firms, MizarVision and Jinghan Technology, selling AI-generated military intelligence on US carrier movements, aircraft deployments, and base activity in the Middle East
- The firms use open-source data including commercial satellite imagery, ADS-B aircraft tracking, and AIS vessel tracking, all processed through AI tools, to produce near real-time intelligence products
- The House Select Committee on China warned that “companies tied to the CCP are turning AI into a battlefield surveillance tool against America,” and Planet Labs has since suspended satellite imagery services for the region at the US government’s request
Chinese AI tracking firms are turning public data into battlefield intelligence, and the US military is on the receiving end. The Washington Post reported that private Chinese technology companies, some holding official People’s Liberation Army supplier certifications, have been marketing detailed analyses of US force movements since the Iran war began five weeks ago. The information was not obtained through leaks or espionage. It was assembled from satellite imagery, flight tracking systems, and maritime data, all commercially available, and processed using AI to produce military-grade intelligence products.
MizarVision and Jinghan Technology Named in Report
MizarVision, based in Hangzhou and certified as a PLA military supplier, tracked the movements of the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups during the buildup to Operation Epic Fury. The firm published detailed breakdowns of aircraft types and quantities at US bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel, including the Prince Sultan Air Base, which later sustained damage from Iranian airstrikes. It claimed on its website to have “cross-validated massive amounts of ship and flight data” covering more than 100 US warships.
Jinghan Technology, also Hangzhou-based and described by analysts as “China’s Palantir,” counts China’s Central Military Commission among its clients. The firm posted audio it claimed contained communications from US Air Force B-2A stealth bombers in the early stages of the war, then deleted the post. It also claimed to have predicted the war approximately 50 days in advance by detecting unusual US force concentrations.
Data Sources and US Response
The companies draw from the Jilin commercial satellite constellation, Western flight and vessel tracking databases, and social media open-source intelligence, all filtered through AI. As crypto.news has covered, Washington has grown increasingly concerned about Chinese firms using commercial technology as a national security vector, a pattern that previously surfaced around Chinese-made crypto mining hardware operating near US military installations.
Planet Labs notified customers Sunday it would indefinitely suspend satellite imagery services for Iran and conflict-adjacent zones, a move widely interpreted as a US government-driven effort to cut off one data stream flowing to firms like MizarVision.
Washington Raises the Alarm
“The proliferation of more and more capable private sector geospatial analysis companies in China will augment China’s defence capabilities and ability to contest US forces in a crisis,” Ryan Fedasiuk of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Post. The House Select Committee on China went further, warning that companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party are converting AI into a battlefield surveillance tool against the United States.
As crypto.news noted in reporting on Chinese tech and national security, the US has increasingly struggled to draw a clear line between China’s civilian commercial sector and its military-linked entities, a challenge that the Iran war has made significantly harder to ignore.
