Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP)

A Freedom of Navigation Operation is a naval transit conducted to challenge a coastal state’s maritime claim that the operating state regards as excessive under UNCLOS, for example a requirement of prior notice for warship passage or a claim over waters around artificial features. The United States runs a standing FONOP program reported annually by the Department of Defense; transits in the South China Sea and through the Taiwan Strait are the most contested. The operation asserts a legal right rather than projecting force.