UK strengthens subsea cables against Russian interference

• UK launches Atlantic Bastion program to protect undersea cables and pipelines from Russian threats
• Initiative combines autonomous vessels, advanced sensors, and naval assets, with deployments expected in 2026
• Recent Baltic Sea cable and power line sabotage incidents highlight urgency amid Russia‑Ukraine conflict

The UK government has started working on Atlantic Bastion, a new military program aimed at strengthening the security of its undersea critical infrastructure.

In a press release published on the UK.gov site earlier this week, it was said that Atlantic Bastion’s goal was to secure these assets from Russian undersea threats.

Russian submarine and underwater activity has reportedly picked up in recent years, and the country has been hard at work modernizing its fleet “to target critical undersea cables and pipelines”. Europe’s eastern neighbor has allegedly been seen mapping out key locations of undersea critical infrastructure, with the UK ...