Undersea Cables: The Unseen Backbone of the Global Internet
actions.The vulnerability was highlighted by unexplained failures in multiple cables off the coast of West Africa on March 14, 2024, which led to significant internet disruptions affecting at least 10 nations. Several cable failures in the Baltic Sea in 2023 raised suspicions of sabotage.The strategic Red Sea corridor has emerged as a focal point for undersea cable threats. A notable incident involved the attack on the cargo ship Rubymar by Houthi rebels. The subsequent damage to undersea cables from the ship’s anchor not only disrupted a significant portion of internet traffic between Asia and
Rubymar Sinking Puts Coral Reefs At Risk
When the Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after a Houthi attack, the ship went down carrying 21,000-tonnes of fertiliser which could trigger massive algal blooms that could create "dead zones" for marine life and starve coral reefs of light.Alongside a slick of leaking fuel, the ammonium phosphate sulphate fertilisers could deliver an extreme pulse of nutrients into waters harbouring rare corals, marine mammals and reef fish, creating a spread of foamy scum on the water.According to a maritime warning circulated to ships in the area, the UK-owned Rubymar, the first vessel lost since Houthi
UTEC Partnership in Saudi Arabia
, infrastructure, industrial, maritime services and manpower supply for diverse economic sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries.Front End will play a pivotal role in UTEC’s growing presence in Saudi Arabia, by promoting survey services across new developments in the Red Sea, helping with logistics and obtaining licenses and permits
U.S. Revives Cold War Submarine Spy Program to Counter China
as the Maritime Self-Defense Force, said in a statement that it was coordinating with its allies to counter China’s increased naval threat; it declined to comment specifically on surveillance operations.SEA DRONES WITH SHARP EARS USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) operates with a Saildrone Explorer in the Red Sea.RED SEA (April 21, 2022) A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel and and the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) operate in the Red Sea in support of the newly established Combined Task Force 153, April 21, 2022. CTF-153 focuses on maritime security and capacity building in the
Unmanned Maritime Systems Development Accelerates
a large number of humans to make sense of—and turn it into meaningful and actionable information of immediate use to operators.Another benefit of leveraging these cutting-edge technologies—especially in light of recent actions such as Iran’s seizure of two U.S. Saildrone USVs in the Red Sea in September 2022—is that no valuable data is retained on the USV. Rather, that data is pushed to the cloud (for Digital Horizon, via a Silvus mesh network) where it is protected and can be downloaded by friendly forces. This presages a concept-of-operations (CONOPS) that will likely advance
U.S. Navy: Unmanned Maritime Systems Development Accelerates
a large number of humans to make sense of—and turn it into meaningful and actionable information of immediate use to operators.Another benefit of leveraging these cutting-edge technologies—especially in light of recent actions such as Iran’s seizure of two U.S. Saildrone USVs in the Red Sea in September 2022—is that no valuable data is retained on the USV. Rather, that data is pushed to the cloud (for Digital Horizon, via a Silvus mesh network) where it is protected and can be downloaded by friendly forces. This presages a concept-of-operations (CONOPS) that will likely
Kremlin’s Threat to Interfere with Undersea Data Cables Should Be Taken Seriously
more vulnerable and where the impact would be more extensive. This includes sites where several crucial cables could be attacked at the same time. These are known as “chokepoints”.For instance, several important cables surface in the port of Marseilles – and the English channel and the Red Sea have a high density of cables. Also, island states, such as Ireland, are more vulnerable because they do not have terrestrial connections as backup.So Medvedev’s threat should be taken seriously, but should not be blown out of proportion.What’s behind the threat?Once thought of as a
Fact Check: Underwater Photograph Shows Diving Site, Not MH370 Wreckage
A photograph of an aircraft sunk in the Red Sea, off the coast of Jordan, to create an artificial diving site has been mislabeled by users as showing the submerged remains of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared in 2014.However, the photo is a screenshot from a video posted by scuba diving company Deep Blue Dive Center in Aqaba, Jordan (here) showing a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft with the caption: "Tristar Airplane Wreck Red Sea, Aqaba JO”.The fate of the lost Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200ER (here) remains unknown, although debris believed to be from the
DriX USV Takes Part in Middle East Naval Exercise
Maritime Exercise (IMX 23), that will be held in Bahrain and Jordan from March 5 to 16.Middle East region’s largest naval exercise, IMX23 is a multinational event involving more than 50 partner-nations and international organizations operating in the Arabian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and East African coastal regions. The exercise will include 7,000 personnel, 35 ships and more than 30 unmanned and artificial intelligence systems, including Exail DriX USV.As part of this exercise, the DriX USV – along with the industrial partners brought together by the unmanned
February 2024
