Royal Navy unveils new Atlantic strategy to counter Russian threat
A slender submarine glider like a torpedo with wings slips under the surface and fades into the murk in the deep waters off the west coast of Scotland's west coast. Intruders are on the prowl for the SG-1 Fathom.
Fathom's program manager Katie Raine says. Adversaries, such as Russian submarines, that are operating clandestinely in or near British waters, who are accused of working with spy ships, are attempting to map the UK's vital undersea cables and pipeline Fathom, a German defence company Helsing and now being trialled by the Royal Navy, moves in silence, with sensors continuously gathering data. It's been designed to patrol for months on end, and it will work autonomously with scores of other gliders, relying on software developed on decades of acoustic data. Raine says, "the glider processes and detects threats more quickly than we've been able to do before. Fathom will most likely be a component of Atlantic Bastion, a network of drones, warships, and surveillance aircraft aimed at safeguarding critical undersea infrastructure.The glider patrols through the depths of the ocean monitoring and looking for competitors that might be in the area,
The Ministry of Defence, which is unveiling elements of Atlantic Bastion, said in a tweet that the program was
not positivein direct reaction to the revival of Russian submarine and underwater operations. According to the government, there has been a 30 percent rise in the number of Russian vessels attacking UK waters in the last two years. According to Russia, it's the UK government that's provocative. The parliamentary National Security Strategy Committee said in September that it was
catastrophic damagethat the UK was equipped to shield its undersea cables, alerting that an attack could result in
deeply risky," because the Yantar had continuously crossed into and out of the UK's exclusive economic zone.to critical financial and communications infrastructure. The Yantar, a Russian oceanic research ship accused of mapping British undersea cables and pipelines, shone lasers at RAF pilots following their progress near UK waters last month. The move, according to Defense Secretary John Healey, was
Healey, who was visiting Portsmouth last week, stressed that the government's investment in new technologies to combat the threat was vital. This is about keeping us up to the Russians,
he told me aboard the XV Patrick Blackett, the Royal Navy's experimental ship used as a testbed for new technologies. A variety of the latest innovations on display included everything from a remote-controlled speedboat zipping about in the harbor to a mock-up of Proteus, the navy's first pilotless helicopter. The black hull of Excalibur, a 12-meter-long, 19-tonne unmanned submarine, loomed on the dock above us, first launched earlier this year. We know the threat that Russia carries,
Healey said.
We know that they are mapping our undersea cables, our networks, and pipelines, and we know that new capabilities are being introduced all the time to put those at risk.We track what their ships do. We track what their submarines are doing.
Healey said time was of the essence when Accompanied by Norwegian Tore O Sandvik as the two countries signed the Lunna House Agreement to work together to find Russian submarines and protect underwater infrastructure.
It's a daunting challenge for the man in charge of supervising Britain's response, First Sea Lord Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins. So how can the UK cope with an enemy who hasn't declared war but is investing heavily and behaving more aggressively through increasingly complex means?It's a rapidly evolving threat, and that's why it needs a prompt response from the UK.
he said.Despite the cost of the war in Ukraine to [Russia], they continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of investment into their submarine fleet,
Others are less optimistic. According to Prof. Peter Roberts, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), the Royal Navy's latest plan looks fine on paper, butWe're still ahead of the Atlantic, but it isn't by as much of a benefit as I would like. We're being pressured, and we're certainly in the fight to remain ahead of where the Russians are at.
neglectedfeels like putting lipstick on a pig. According to him, the UK has
attempting to find a way to be credibleits post-World War II role to be the guardian of the western Atlantic, and the Royal Navy is
in combating a threat that has beensteadly increasing
The Royal Navy does not have the ships to do this job properly or credibly, and is trying to do it with drones because they are cheaper and can provide coverage of the geographical areas for which the Royal Navy is responsible in lieu of new ships.for the past 20 years. However, the government and Navy have continued to ignore the government's and Navy's efforts, but the government has
Prof Roberts says.Russia so far has been unchallenged in a significant portion of UK water space, and this plan is playing catch up long after the fact.
monitoring Russian naval activityRussia says it's the United Kingdom that's provocative, as well as hysterical. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a news briefing in Moscow that the Lunna House Agreement was being used to support
and riskedtriggering unnecessary conflicts" in international waters. The military, on the other hand, insists it is well aware of the dangers. To solve them, the company is closely working with industry to understand them.
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