From TechRadar · · 1m 50s
NATO caught Russia rehearsing a cable kill
Russian submarines practiced cutting Arctic data lines with a device built to leave no fingerprints, until British, Norwegian and American forces showed up.
In brief
Russian submarines practiced cutting Arctic data lines with a device built to leave no fingerprints, until British, Norwegian and American forces showed up. The threat to undersea cables is no longer theoretical. Russia has rehearsed a cut designed to be untraceable, and the West's answer so far is to say out loud…
A confrontation off Svalbard
British, Norwegian and American forces moved in on vessels tied to Russia's deep-sea research directorate during Arctic exercises this spring. No cable was damaged.
The tool with no fingerprints
Officials say GUGI, Russia's specialized underwater operations unit, was testing a device that could sever a line while erasing the evidence linking Moscow to the cut.
Two cables, garden-hose thin
Svalbard connects to mainland Norway through two fiber lines running 1,400km and dropping 2,700 meters down. They are about as thick as a garden hose.
NASA's data runs through here
Those cables carry traffic from SvalSat, a major satellite ground station that also serves NASA's Near Space Network. Norway plans a third link to Jan Mayen by 2028.
Why the Bear Gap matters
Russian ships leaving northern naval bases for the Atlantic must cross a 400-mile passage near Svalbard, which makes the local cables a communications and surveillance asset.
A test of Article 5
Three American officials told Reuters that subsea lines could be the target of a future probe of NATO's collective-defense promise. CIA Director John Ratcliffe raised sabotage in Moscow in August.
Norway goes public on purpose
Britain put another $136 million into P-8 patrol aircraft, and 99% of its international data rides these cables. Officials took their findings to Moscow, hoping exposure deters the next attempt.
“We have made it unequivocally clear to Russian authorities that any attempt to target our critical infrastructure will be detected and met with consequences.”
The key point
The threat to undersea cables is no longer theoretical. Russia has rehearsed a cut designed to be untraceable, and the West's answer so far is to say out loud that it was watching.
