The ‘Atlantic Bastion’ will create an ‘advanced hybrid naval force’ to defend the UK and NATO allies (Image: Royal Navy / SWNS)
The UK is pushing ahead with a plan to mitigate against Russia’s purported attempts to disrupt undersea cables. A Parliamentary report stated in September that there have been “numerous allegations of Russia and China using proxy actors to sabotage subsea cables, particularly in the Baltic and Indo-Pacific regions respectively”. In January, it emerged that a Russian boat had been tracked by the Royal Navy after it spent 14 hours near the sea sharing data cables in the Bristol Channel.
In November, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was tracking a Russian research vessel Yantar, which was “designed to threaten our critical national underwater infrastructure”.
The Council on Geostrategy said in 2023 that much of the UK’s economy and social services “rest upon the continuous and uninterrupted use of undersea cables delivering data connectivity”. It noted a Spectator article which stated that the UK has around 60 undersea cables, and if several of these were cut or disrupted, phone calls, internet connections and around $10trillion a day of international bank transactions would be put at risk.
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It is believed that Russia is trying to disrupt undersea cables (Image: Getty)
The council added: “Incredibly diverse aspects of life in the UK, from multimillion international bank transactions to medical activities resting on access to cloud-based access to data, would be at risk if a sufficient number of cables were severed or sabotaged.”
The Government last year announced that the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) had activated an advanced British-led “reaction system” to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure after reported damage to a major undersea cable in the Baltic Sea. A statement was also released “expressing concern at the damage caused to Estlink2 and highlighting the Alliance’s commitment to working together to safeguard shared interests”.
A House of Commons research briefing from November 2025 stated that the Navy will contribute towards an “Atlantic Bastion” concept with type 26 anti-submarine frigates, uncrewed surface vessels and uncrewed underwater vehicles, equipped with acoustic detection systems powered by artificial intelligence and “integrated into the new digital targeting web”.
“These will be deployed alongside other service assets to create a ‘comprehensive and layered sensor network—operating on, above, and below the water—to create an integrated, multi-domain approach’ involving the RAF, Strategic Command, NATO, the UK Hydrographic Office and commercial partners,” the document added.
Officials warned that Russian underwater and surface activity in the north of the Atlantic Ocean had increased in recent years.
Royal Navy vessels have been shadowing Russian ships (Image: LPhot Edward Jones/Royal Navy / SWNS)
In 2019, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that the GIUK Gap – which separates the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea from the open Atlantic Ocean – had “returned as one of NATO’s major strategic maritime concerns” after a period of post-Cold War “neglect”.
The Government’s 2025 Strategic Defence Review described “Atlantic Bastion” as the Royal Navy’s plan to secure the North Atlantic “against the persistent and growing underwater threat from a modernising Russian submarine force”.
First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said in December: “We are a Navy that thrives when it is allowed to adapt. To evolve. We have never stood still – because the threats never do.” He added:
“The SDR identified the maritime domain as increasingly vulnerable – and that maritime security is a strategic imperative for the UK. It is time to act.
“This begins with Atlantic Bastion – our bold new approach to secure the underwater battlespace against a modernising Russia. Our commitment to Alliance. And it is happening now.
“A revolutionary underwater network is taking shape – from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Norwegian Sea. More autonomous, more resilient, more lethal – and British built. We’ve already made rapid and significant progress with delivering Atlantic Bastion. A force that keeps us secure at home and strong abroad.”