In October, all it reportedly took was an anchor, dragged along the seabed for about 112 miles by a Chinese cargo ship in the Baltic Sea, to rip through an undersea gas pipeline and a telecoms cable linking Estonia and Finland. The U.S. has deployed two ships under its Cable Ship Security Program to monitor critical infrastructure. “Two ships are a good start, but just not enough,” said retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Foggo.
Russia has the Belgorod submarine with seabed capability as well as two, stretched Delta-class submarines, all three are nuclear-powered and are host submarines, which can each carry two manned and one unmanned submarine. In response, the U.S. has deployed two ships under its Cable Ship Security Program to monitor critical infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Italy and Norway are tapping commercial companies for data to help protect cables. As Italy took the lead in a new joint European Union seabed security program in 2023, Italian Navy officials heard from local energy firm Saipem about its work on undersea drones able to autonomously monitor pipelines and park in underwater bays connected to the surface. Researchers are also working on turning fiber-optic cables into giant sensors able to spot incoming saboteurs.
This is just another example of how seabed aggressors remain in the driving seat, he explained; that is, until the next evolution of seabed warfare — the arming of undersea drones. “The West has hang-ups about arming undersea drones, and it comes down to communications. You can put a human in the loop with an aerial drone, but underwater you do not have constant communication with the drone. You would have to leave decision-making to the drone,” he said. “But China already likely has armed undersea drones, and experience in Ukraine may well change the West’s view,” he added. Last year, the Ukrainian Navy damaged Russian ships using surface drones carrying explosives, and the service is already working on underwater versions.
