US to restart Cold War submarine spy program
The US Navy is restructuring its underwater surveillance program to counter China’s growing naval power.
The project, which aims to restructure the US anti-submarine espionage program since the end of the Cold War, requires billions of dollars of investment.
As part of the project, the United States’ existing underwater acoustic spy cable network will be modernized and a fleet of surveillance ships are planned to be modernized with state-of-the-art underwater sensors and microphones. The United States agreed to sell similar technology to Australia to strengthen Allied defenses in the Pacific.
The most innovative change in the Navy’s ocean exploration system has been the investment in new technologies to miniaturize and globalize traditional maritime surveillance tools.
The Navy’s plan includes deploying a fleet of unmanned seaplanes to listen for enemy ships; placing portable “underwater satellite” sensors on the seabed to search for submarines; It involves using satellites to locate ships by monitoring radio frequencies and using artificial intelligence software to analyze maritime spy data in a fraction of the time humans would normally analyze.
China is also working on its own maritime espionage program known as the Great Underwater Wall, two US Navy sources told Reuters.
This system, currently under construction, consists of cables equipped with sonar listening sensors strung along the seafloor of the South China Sea, a region tense due to territorial disputes between China and its neighbors. China is also building a fleet of surface and underwater drones to search for enemy submarines, two sources said.
The US Navy’s surveillance initiative was motivated by three main factors, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the plans. The first is China’s rapid rise as a naval power and the potential for its ships to attack Taiwan or sabotage critical underwater infrastructure such as oil pipelines and fiber optic cables for the Internet.
The second is Ukraine’s success in applying new naval warfare tactics against Russian forces. Ukraine used relatively cheap unmanned marine vehicles to attack enemy ships and bridges. This development revealed the vulnerability of large ships to drone attacks and the need for the US Navy to master this technology for its own offensive operations and learn ways to defend against it.
Finally, rapid technological change, including more sensitive underwater sensors, artificial intelligence and unmanned marine vehicles, is fueling the surveillance race between China and the United States.
The changes that have been made
As part of the project, the United States’ existing underwater acoustic spy cable network will be modernized and a fleet of surveillance ships are planned to be modernized with state-of-the-art underwater sensors and microphones.
New technologies
The most innovative change in the Navy’s ocean exploration system has been the investment in new technologies to miniaturize and globalize traditional maritime surveillance tools.
The China program
China is also working on its own maritime espionage program known as the Great Underwater Wall, two US Navy sources told Reuters.
Why was the measure started?
According to three sources with direct knowledge of the plans, the US Navy surveillance initiative was launched due to three main factors:
- China’s rapid rise as a naval power
- Ukraine’s success in naval warfare tactics
- Rapid technological change