Deep in Arctic waters near Svalbard this spring, NATO allies caught Russian submersibles training to deploy a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving fingerprints, Reuters reported in an exclusive citing two Western officials.
Moscow’s GUGI undersea warfare directorate ran the clandestine exercise; a joint Britain-Norway-U.S. operation tracked and confronted the vessels, which left without completing the drill or damaging cables. Britain and Norway had disclosed a covert Arctic operation in April, but the new weapon, Svalbard location, and U.S. role had not been reported. Two 1,400 km fiber links from Svalbard to mainland Norway run as deep as 2,700 meters and carry SvalSat satellite data for NASA’s Near Space Network.
Some U.S. analysts fear Russia could test NATO’s Article 5, with cable cuts as a key move. Norway’s Defence Minister Tore Sandvik said the joint operation sent a clear message that covert ops will be detected and met with consequences. Western officials also took findings to Moscow, hoping awareness would deter use. NATO referred questions to Norwegian and UK authorities; Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to Reuters.
Sources: Reuters; The Irish Times
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