Navy grapples with Russian threats to undersea cables

U.S. leaders are increasingly worried that Russia’s submarines could sever the communication arteries that drive global commerce.

The communications cables criss-cross tens of thousands of miles of ocean to relay Internet and phone data between continents. The concerns arose in September, when a Russian spy ship armed with two unmanned submersibles was detected in the vicinity of the cables,according to anOct. 25 article in The New York Times.

The Russian operation has brought discussions normally held in classified settings to the fore: How can the U.S. Navy safeguard thousands of miles of critical infrastructure? It’s a vexing issue  at a time when the Navy’s forces are stretched thin in the Middle East and while confronting emerging near-peer competitors  like Russia and China.

Navy leaders are starting to raise the alarm about this potential choke point, and the solution they propose is autonomous underwater systems.

The head of the nuclear Navy said that the Navy needed to invest heavily in unmanned underwater systems to protect undersea infrastructure. For the full article click here

from critical infrastructure alliance http://ift.tt/1LIgowy
via IFTTT