Royal Navy presents new Atlantic strategy to counter Russian threat

In the dark waters off the west coast of Scotland, a slender underwater glider, like a torpedo with wings, glides beneath the surface and quickly disappears into the darkness.

SG-1 Fathom is on the lookout for intruders.

“The glider patrols through the depths of the ocean monitoring and listening for adversaries that may be in the area,” says Fathom program director Katie Raine.

Adversaries such as Russian submarines operating covertly in or near British waters, suspected of working with spy ships to map the UK’s vital undersea cables and pipelines.

Fathom, manufactured by German defense company Helsing and now being tested by the Royal Navy, moves silently and its sensors constantly collect information.

It is designed to patrol for months, working autonomously with dozens of other gliders, using software trained on decades of acoustic data.

“The glider processes and identifies threats faster than we’ve been able to do before,” says Raine.

If effective, Fathom will likely be part of Atlantic Bastion, a network of drones, warships and surveillance aircraft intended to protect vital underwater infrastructure.

The Defense Ministry, which will unveil elements of Atlantic Bastion on Monday, said in a statement that the program was “a direct response to the resurgence of Russian submarines and undersea activity.”

The government says there has been a 30% increase in the number of Russian vessels threatening UK waters in the last two years. Russia says it is the UK government that is being provocative.

In September, the Parliamentary National Security Strategy Committee said it was “not confident” the UK was equipped to protect its undersea cables, warning that an attack could cause a “catastrophic disruption” to vital communications and financial systems.

Last month, the Yantar, a Russian ocean research vessel suspected of mapping British underwater cables and pipes, pointed lasers at RAF pilots tracking its progress near UK waters.

Defense Secretary John Healey called the action “deeply dangerous” and said the Yantar had repeatedly entered and exited the UK’s exclusive economic zone.

On a visit to Portsmouth last week, Healey stressed that government investment in new technology to combat the threat was vital.

“It’s about staying ahead of the Russians,” Patrick Blackett told me aboard the XV, the Royal Navy’s experimental ship used as a test bed for new technologies.

Some of that new technology was on display, from a remotely controlled speedboat moving around the harbor to a mockup of Proteus, the Navy’s first pilotless helicopter.

On the dock above us loomed the black hull of the Excalibur, a 12-meter-long, 19-ton unmanned submarine, first launched earlier this year.

“We know the threat that Russia represents,” Healey said. “We follow what their ships do. We follow what their submarines do.

“We know they are mapping our undersea cables, our networks and our pipelines, and we know they are developing new capabilities all the time to put them at risk.”

Accompanied by his Norwegian counterpart Tore O Sandvik as the two countries signed a defense pact – the Lunna House Agreement – to work together to hunt down Russian submarines and protect underwater infrastructure, Healey said time was of the essence.

“It is a rapidly evolving threat and therefore requires a rapid response from the UK.”

It is a daunting challenge for the man charged with overseeing Britain’s response, the First Sea Lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins.

So how can the UK keep up with an opponent that has not declared war but is investing heavily and behaving increasingly aggressively through increasingly complex means?

“Despite the cost of the war in Ukraine to [Russia]”They continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in their submarine fleet,” he said.

“We are still ahead in the Atlantic, but it is not as big an advantage as I would like. They are putting pressure on us and we are definitely in the competition to stay ahead of where the Russians are.”

The recent episode involving an alleged spy ship, the Yantar, accused of aiming lasers at RAF pilots tracking its movements off the northern coast of Scotland, was only the most visible example of Russian activity, he said. What worried him most was what was happening beneath the waves.

As part of this year’s Strategic Defense Review, the First Sea Lord is overseeing the Atlantic Bastion program.

Much of this remains untested and critics say the Navy lacks sufficient resources to do the job properly. But the general said the first devices would be in the water next year and urged allies to join Britain in protecting data cables and supply lines.

Professor Peter Roberts, an expert on contemporary conflicts at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), says the Royal Navy’s new strategy looks good on paper, but “it looks like putting lipstick on a pig”.

It argues that the UK has “neglected” its post-World War II responsibility to be the guardian of the Western Atlantic, and now the Royal Navy is “trying to find a way to appear credible” in tackling a threat that has been “increasing steadily over the last 20 years… but still ignored by the government and the Navy.”

“The Royal Navy does not have the ships to do this job consistently or credibly and is looking to address it with drones as they are cheaper and can provide coverage of the geographical areas for which the Royal Navy is responsible rather than new ships,” adds Professor Roberts.

“So far, Russia is unrivaled in much of the UK’s water space and this strategy is long catching up.”

Russia says it is Britain that is being provocative, even hysterical.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow that the Lunna House Agreement was being used to justify “monitoring Russian naval activity” and risked “provoking unnecessary conflicts” in international waters.

But the military says it is clear-eyed about the dangers. And it is working closely with the industry to address them.

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