TL;DR

The UK has announced Atlantic Bastion, a multi-million-pound AI-powered naval programme designed to protect critical undersea infrastructure from Russian threats. The hybrid force combines autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, warships and aircraft to detect and deter adversaries targeting underwater cables and pipelines.

Defending Critical Infrastructure

Defence Secretary John Healey has unveiled Atlantic Bastion, a pioneering programme that represents a significant shift in how the Royal Navy approaches undersea defence. The initiative comes in response to growing concerns about Russian activities targeting underwater infrastructure—the cables and pipelines that carry 99% of the UK’s international telecommunications data and vital energy supplies.

The technology is already being tested at the Royal Navy’s secure undersea facility on Scotland’s west coast. The announcement follows recent incidents of damaged cables in the Baltic Sea and UK defence intelligence identifying Russia’s modernisation efforts to target subsea infrastructure.

A Hybrid Fighting Force

Atlantic Bastion will develop and test state-of-the-art anti-submarine sensor technology, creating what the Ministry of Defence describes as “an advanced hybrid naval force” capable of finding, tracking and acting against adversaries “with unprecedented effectiveness across vast areas of ocean.”

Speaking at Portsmouth Naval Base, Healey addressed Russian naval activity directly: “We’ve seen in recent weeks their spy ship, Yantar, in and out of UK waters, and we’re able to find them, whether they are on the surface or underwater. We’re able to find them, track them and, if necessary, we are ready with allies to act to deter them.”

Looking Forward

First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins describes the programme as “a revolutionary underwater network taking shape—from the mid-Atlantic ridge to the Norwegian Sea” that will be “more autonomous, more resilient, more lethal—and British built.”

The initiative signals a new approach to naval defence, with Healey emphasising the need to “rapidly innovate at a wartime pace” to maintain technological advantage. For UK businesses, this represents both a security assurance for critical digital infrastructure and potential opportunities in defence technology development.

Source: ITV News