Indo-Pacific – – October 27, 2026 -- Russia reflagged 84 dark fleet tankers to its own registry in Q3 2026, more than four times the Q2 figure, according to Windward's Q3 2026 Maritime Risk Report. The maritime intelligence provider argues that allied navies and coast guards cannot counter such activity while each partner works from a separate slice of the picture.
Russia now flags 223 tankers, 18% of the total
One in three Aframax tankers worldwide now sits in the dark fleet, per the report. These vessels cross theaters routinely. Iranian crude loaded in the Gulf is commonly transferred ship to ship off Malaysia's Johor coast, roughly halfway between Iran and China, which buys about 90% of Iranian oil. One cargo can pass through CENTCOM and INDOPACOM and several national jurisdictions before discharge, and no single partner sees the whole route.
A sanctioned LNG carrier held its cargo for more than nine months
The vessel is a UK-sanctioned LNG carrier owned by a single-ship company in China and reflagged from Panama to Sierra Leone in March. It loaded Russian LNG at a sanctioned plant in December 2025, and India refused the cargo in May. After months of drifting and anchoring in the South China Sea and off Johor, it entered the Andaman Sea in September. It went dark twice near a cluster of subsea cables and has since sailed repeated straight lines over them.
The UK listed the vessel, India turned the cargo away, and coastal states from Malaysia to Thailand watched it pass. Only the fused history shows the pattern, according to Windward.
AIS self-reporting drifts from reality as GPS jamming hit 124,235 vessels
Every AIS identity field, from name and flag to destination, is entered by the crew or operator. The IMO list of falsely flagged ships reached 613 by the end of September, up 39% since January. In the Bab el-Mandeb, about one in three AIS-visible transits used the destination field for crew nationality or a political message instead of a port.
GPS jamming affected 124,235 distinct vessels in the quarter, roughly one in nine ships in the world fleet.
Insight-level sharing avoids raw collection release limits
Windward proposes fusing AIS with SAR and EO satellite imagery, RF detection, dark vessel detection, ownership and sanctions data, and behavioral history. Its Maritime Intelligence Operations Center combines these into a single operational picture and checks findings against open reporting. Partners would exchange assessments and supporting evidence rather than raw collection, sensor feeds, or methods. The company says commercial, unclassified intelligence can move between allies faster than national collection because it carries fewer release restrictions.
GraphQL API and webhooks target existing C2 workflows
Windward says a capability requiring rip-and-replace will usually lose to one that fits existing C2 and mission network workflows. Its GraphQL-based API lets integrators request exact fields in a single call. Webhooks push risk score changes, deceptive shipping detections, and vessel-of-interest alerts into internal systems. Risk indicators trace back to underlying evidence, and the API is designed to run alongside a customer's own data. Questions on specific mission networks and accreditation are environment-specific, the company says.
Windward is exhibiting at TechNet Indo-Pacific through October 29 at booth TB113 in the Tapa Tower.