UK Joins Allied Effort to Protect Undersea Cables

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Facts

  • Britain will send six Royal Navy warships, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, and a Royal Air Force maritime patrol aircraft to take part next month in Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) patrols of the area — from the English Channel to the Baltic Sea — with vulnerable undersea infrastructure.1
  • The decision comes after defense ministers from all JEF nations — Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK — unanimously agreed to activate the JEF Response Option protocol to mobilize military assets for the first time.2
  • British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has argued that the deployment will 'defend our shared critical infrastructure against potential threats' in the North Atlantic and North Sea and send a 'powerful message of deterrence' that any potential threat will be met with force.3
  • NATO is also reportedly focused on defending critical seabed infrastructure, especially after a gas pipeline and two telecommunications cables running between Estonia and Finland were damaged on Oct. 8, raising fears that Russia could target undersea infrastructure to put pressure on the West.4
  • Similar incidents have been reported around northern Europe in recent years, such as a 2.5-mile-long section of a data cable disappearing from waters north of Norway in 2021 and the alleged Ukrainian sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Germany and Russia last year.4
  • Meanwhile, Shapps has also revealed that the HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, is en route to join the frigate HMS Lancaster in the Gulf to boost deterrence against Iran and its proxies amid mounting tensions in the Middle East.5

Sources: 1Reuters, 2UK Defence Journal, 3Express, 4Business Insider and 5BBC News.

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by RT. It's hypocritical of the West to point fingers at Russia over the damage of the Balticconnector when the explosions that blew up the Nord Stream pipelines remain unsolved. There is a high risk that the impetus behind these patrols will evolve into the targeted closure of the Baltic Sea to Russian shipping — any western actors potentially involved in the Nord Stream sabotage should also face sanctions.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Financial Times. While the West and its security allies are tirelessly working to prevent conflict, deter enemies, and protect critical undersea infrastructure, China and Russia have intensified their hostile activities in the High North and around the Baltic Sea. As northern waters become increasingly contested and dangerous, western powers are seeking to ensure they remain free and navigable.

Predictions