More details on the PLAN task force off Okinawa from the PLA Daily

While confirming submarines were part this drill, this rather detailed PLAdaily article did not mention any UAV.  This is contrary to the report released by Japan's Ministry Of Defense  (Here)

Destroyer flotilla organizes air defense and anti-submarine drill
(Source: PLA Daily) 2011-07-08
http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/china-military-news/2011-07/08/content_4461864.htm

Coordination of warship and helicopter (PLA Daily/Xu Guoxin)

In late June, an air defense and anti-submarine drill jointly organized by a destroyer flotilla, the submarine unit and the aviation unit of the East China Sea Fleet (ECSF) of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) started in a sea area. During the whole drill, the formation of naval vessels suffered full-time, all-direction and three-dimensional attacks from underwater and the air.

According to the commander of the destroyer flotilla, the flotilla focused on trainings of coordination between surface vessels and helicopters, as well as between surface vessels and submarines, and established a collaboration mechanism for systematic confrontation drills with such arms and services as aviation, submarine and ground-to-ship missile. It organizes a number of joint confrontation drills every year in a bid to improve troops’ real combat capability in response to a variety of threats.

The formation commander said that the whole drill followed the requirements of comprehensive defense, combined attacks and information countermeasure, and executed in a close-to-actual- combat environment, so the naval units that participated in the drill received a full range of trainings.
By Liu Yaxun and Fang Lihua

Editor:Ouyang

Let's get the party started.

An update from Japan's Ministry Of Defense (pdf here) on the PLAN training task force in the Western Pacific to include the submarine rescue ship 862, indicating there are submarines lurking underneath the surface.

In addition to the sub rescue ship, a few more Jiangwei class FFGs are on route to join the training task force.

Shadowing the Chinese task force is the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Shirane class destroyer Kurama(DDH-144) and the Kongō class destroyer Chōkai (DDG-176)