Latest Russian subsea standoff puts pressure on the UK’s seabed defence strategy
Russian warships have previously entered UK waters, necessitating monitoring by the Royal Navy. (Photo: UK Royal Navy)
UK defence secretary John Healey’s exposure of a covert Russian deep-sea operation against undersea infrastructure in the Atlantic validates the Royal Navy’s Atlantic Bastion concept but lays bare a capacity gap that autonomous systems, allied integration and sustained investment must close.
Somewhere in the cold waters north of the UK, a Russian Akula-class submarine was running deep. Two specialist platforms from Russia’s Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) – vessels purpose-built to map and, if ordered, sever Britain’s cables and pipelines – were operating nearby.
For more than a month, a Royal Navy (RN) warship, Royal Air Force (RAF) P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and allied ships and aircraft maintained surveillance of the Russian force. Some 500 British personnel were involved. Aircraft flew more than 450 hours. The frigate covered several thousand nautical miles.
The Akula retreated north. The two GUGI
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