• NATO is planning to launch a fleet of uncrewed naval ships, a military commander said.
• Pierre Vandier told Defense News they will monitor and protect critical underwater infrastructure.
• Gas pipelines and undersea cables have been damaged in recent years, with some suspecting sabotage.

NATO is planning to roll out a fleet of uncrewed naval ships to protect critical underwater infrastructure.

Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, shared the development with Defense News on Tuesday.

He told the outlet his team was in the early stages of establishing the drone fleet, but aimed to launch it before a NATO summit next June.

Vandier compared the concept to police CCTV cameras that are mounted on streetlights in high-crime areas to capture evidence of criminal activity.

"The technology is there to make this streetlighting with USVs," he said, using the acronym for uncrewed surface vessels.

Vandier added that the goal was that "NATO can see and monitor its environment daily," especially across the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.

The development comes after several incidents of critical underwater infrastructure being damaged or severed over the last three years, with Russia sometimes suspected of being behind it.

In September 2022, a series of underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea rendered two Nord Stream gas pipelines, designed to transport gas from Russia to Germany, inoperable.

Danish, Swedish, and German authorities launched investigations and concluded that the incident was an act of sabotage. Denmark and Sweden closed their investigations due to a lack of evidence or jurisdiction, while Germany is continuing its probe and says it has identified two suspects.

Last month, two undersea fiber-optic communication cables were also damaged in the Baltic Sea, in a suspected act of sabotage.

The cables included a 135-mile internet link between Lithuania and Sweden's Gotland Island, and a 730-mile cable carrying data between Germany and Finland.

A NATO official told Business Insider in September that threats to subsea infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines and data cables, had increased since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

NATO has since taken steps to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure and prepare for any disruptions.

It created a NATO-EU task force on the resilience of critical infrastructure in January 2023, established an infrastructure coordination cell in February 2023 to map vulnerabilities, and set up the Maritime Center for Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure this May.

NATO is also "stepping up patrols," Commander Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesperson for NATO's Allied Maritime Command, told Reuters this month.

Regarding the drone fleet, Vandier didn't specify the types of USVs or their overall number, but said that the US is already using a similar concept.

The US Navy established Task Group 59.1 in January to test and deploy uncrewed systems to improve maritime security in the Middle East.

"So somehow it's not very risky," Vandier said, adding that "everything is known and sold, so it is much more a matter of adoption than technology."

NATO's Allied Command Transformation's Public Affairs Office didn't respond to a request for comment.

• A Chinese cargo ship is under investigation related to severed data cables in the Baltic Sea.
• A probe found that the vessel steamed ahead while dragging its anchor for over 100 miles.
• Western officials believe Russia likely orchestrated the attack on EU maritime infrastructure.

Two key undersea data cables in the Baltic Sea were severed earlier this month, prompting an investigation into a Chinese cargo ship for suspected sabotage.

European authorities said the Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, identified as Yi Peng 3, dragged its anchor over the Baltic seabed for over 100 miles, cutting the critical internet cables that link four NATO countries.

A timeline of events

On November 15, Yi Peng 3 departed from Russia's Ust-Luga port on the Baltic Sea carrying Russian fertilizer.

The Ust-Luga port is the largest universal port on the Baltic Sea and the Kremlin's second-largest port after Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. Since Sweden and Finland joined the alliance, the Baltic Sea has been referred to as "NATO lake" because it is almost entirely populated by alliance members.

Two days later, investigators established that the Chinese vessel dropped its anchor around 9 p.m. local time, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. However, the ship continued steaming with its anchor dropped and is believed to have severed an undersea telecoms cable connecting Sweden and Lithuania, per The Journal.

Investigators said Yi Peng 3 continued to sail for another 111 miles with its dragging anchor, which then cut the only communications cable connecting Finland with Germany less than twenty-four hours later.

It was only then that investigators said the vessel raised anchor and continued its route.

It's highly unusual for any vessel to drag its anchor for this long due to the dangers and fuel waste, an impediment that cannot go unnoticed by the ship's watch-standers. A crew typically recovers the anchor, or in the worst case, jettisons it, before steaming ahead.

The Chinese bulk carrier is now anchored in the Kattegat Strait and is being monitored by Danish naval patrol vessels as European authorities continue to investigate the potential sabotage.

Concerns of potential sabotage

Investigators said Yi Peng 3's movements couldn't be charted after it went "dark," meaning that the ship's transponder was shut down or disabled, thus obscuring its position.

Open-source satellite imagery, however, reportedly placed the Chinese ship near the damaged cables at the time of the respective incidents.

An investigator on the case told The Journal that it's "extremely unlikely" that the ship's captain wouldn't have noticed the vessel's dragging anchor.

"It's extremely unlikely that the captain would not have noticed that his ship dropped and dragged its anchor, losing speed for hours and cutting cables on the way," the investigator said.

An analysis by Kpler, a global trade analytics firm, provided to The Journal found that "given the mild weather conditions and manageable wave heights, the likelihood of accidental anchor dragging appears minimal."

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he believed the incident was a result of potential sabotage, telling reporters last week that "nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed."

"We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action, and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage," Pistorius said.

Russia accused of waging 'hybrid warfare'

Yi Peng 3's origin of departure raised concerns over potential Russian involvement in the incident, possibly in connection to the war in Ukraine.

Though the Chinese vessel and associated parties are under investigation over damaged cables, Western officials believe that Russian intelligence agencies orchestrated the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian involvement, calling the accusations "absurd."

"It's quite absurd to keep blaming Russia for everything without any grounds. It is laughable in the context of the lack of any reaction to Ukraine's sabotage activities in the Baltic Sea," Peskov told reporters on November 20.

Foreign ministers of Finland and Germany released a joint statement on November 18, saying they were "deeply concerned" about the incident, which "immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage [and] speaks volumes about the volatility of our times.

"Our European security is not only under threat from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors," the ministers said in the statement. "Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies."

The incident in the Baltic Sea comes just weeks after US officials warned that Russia would likely target undersea cables and other critical maritime infrastructure.

"We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia's decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing," a US official told CNN in September.

The official added that "Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage" through its dedicated military unit known as the General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, or GUGI.

China complying with the investigation

Denmark's foreign ministry said in a statement earlier this week that investigators were engaged in ongoing "diplomatic dialogue" with the countries "most involved in handling this case, including China."

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the talks in a statement last Friday, saying Beijing "is currently working with relevant parties, including Denmark, to maintain smooth communication through diplomatic channels."

Chinese company Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, which owns Yi Peng 3, is also cooperating with the probe and allowed the vessel to be stopped while Swedish and German authorities negotiate access to the ship and its crew, The Journal reported.

The vessel's crew, which also includes a Russian sailor, has yet to be questioned due to restrictions under international maritime law.

• Two undersea cables in the Baltic were severed in recent days.
• Germany's defense minister said it was likely an act of sabotage.
• The cables have become a crucial part of the West's data infrastructure.

The vast networks of data cables that crisscross our world's oceans are crucial for almost every aspect of modern life.

The cables span around 745,000 miles and are responsible for transmitting 95% of international data. Around $10 trillion in financial transactions travel across these networks each day.

Despite their importance, events this week have highlighted just how vulnerable the West's internet subsea cables are to attacks from hostile powers.

Geopolitical tensions, a lack of clear ownership, and outdated efforts to protect the infrastructure have all led to fears that they could be intentionally damaged by the likes of Russia or China, creating social and economic chaos.

Cuts to cables in the Baltic Sea

On Sunday and Monday, cables under the Baltic Sea carrying data between Germany and Finland and Sweden and Lithuania were severed in what German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius described as a likely act of sabotage.

In a joint statement, Germany and Finland's foreign ministries connected the incidents to Russia's "hybrid warfare" campaign to undermine the West in the fallout from the Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, Sweden is investigating the sighting of a Chinese vessel near the cables, The Financial Times reported.

Experts say that as the West has come to rely on the cables as a crucial part of its infrastructure, efforts to safeguard them have not kept pace.

"The attack surface is vast (there is a LOT) of cable, and we do not have sufficient subsea situational awareness to enable monitoring," Gregory Falco, an Assistant Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, told Business Insider.

Vulnerable to attack

One factor is the complex ownership and maintenance structure of cable networks. The cables are privately owned by telecommunications companies, which are responsible for their security and repairs.

They are monitored using an Automated Identification System that identifies if a ship — possibly a hostile vessel — is nearby.

Falco described the system as "antiquated."

"The reality is that any ship can turn off their AIS transponder," said Falco, thus evading detection.

Unlike Russia, whose internet cables mostly run overland, the cables Western countries rely on are deep under the sea — and it's an asymmetrical vulnerability Russia is signaling it could exploit.

"Russia is not as dependent on subsea cables for internet as Western Europe, so can easily attack them without major damage to its own communications infrastructure," said Erin Murphy deputy director of Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at the CSIS in Washington, DC, and coauthor of a recent report on the threat to the cables.

BI reported in September that the General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, a Russian naval unit specializing in sabotage, had been surveilling the cables.

The unit operates a small fleet of deep-sea submarines capable of operating at a depth of around 2,500 meters and a surveillance vessel, the Yantar.

Sidharth Kaushal, an analyst at London's RUSI think tank, told BI at the time that because the West is not officially at war with Russia, it can do little if a Russian vessel is detected in international waters near the cables.

There is also the prospect of China teaming up with Russia on an attack, said Murphy, amid reports on the presence of the Chinese vessel near the cables.

"There have been questions about China's support or lack of opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine but if intentional, this is an aggressive step by a China that typically operates in the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

The latest incident has not been confirmed as a case of sabotage. The Kremin and Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests by BI for comment.

Whether cut by accidents or in a hybrid warfare attack, the logistics of repairing the cables can be formidable.

"There's only so many trusted cable repair ships and the repairs can take time, depending on the extent of the damage and the conditions at sea for the ships to navigate," Murphy told BI.

"If the cut has been made in hostile waters, security issues will become a major risk for cable repair ships or those ships navigating those waters to protect cables."

No backup plan

The cable severances in the Baltic this week didn't result in an internet blackout — just lower bandwidth and disruptions for individual users.

That's because companies usually have the capacity to re-route data through alternative cables if one or more are damaged,

"The network infrastructure is built in such a way that, on a larger scale, the fault in a single submarine cable has no major effect, although it may have effects on a single operator or individual," Henri Kronlund, a spokesman for Cinia, the company that operates the damaged Germany-Finland C-Lion cable, told BI.

Russia, however, retains the capacity to totally cut off internet connections to countries by cutting several cables in coordination, said Falco.

"It's practical for the Russians to have visibility to the various paths that data can take and cut each cable in concert. This is particularly easier for countries with less cable connections like Iceland," he said.

In response to the threat, Western countries are trying to better protect existing cable networks or route data through satellites if they are disrupted.

In the CSIS report in August, Murphy and other analysts called for the US to strengthen international coordination and enhance resources to protect existing undersea cable networks.

But until there's a backup in place, the undersea networks will continue to be a weak spot Russia can menace in its escalating confrontation with the West.

"The scale and exposure of undersea infrastructure also make it an easy target for saboteurs operating in the gray zone of "deniable attacks short of war," the CSIS noted in its report.