Royal Navy: Cutting-edge anti-submarine sensors and other technology could be used to protect UK waters - why

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard revealed that the Royal Navy is looking into new technologies to deal with unauthorised naval activity. This comes after several Russian ships - some as part of task forces - being spotted traversing through British waters and the North Sea.

Stephen Gethins, MP for the Scottish National Party, asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) if any surveillance methods were being enhanced given the recent activity, which has also seen a rise in submarines operating near the UK. Mr Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “Protecting the UK and responding to threats in our territorial waters is a critical component of the Defence mission to protect the nation, and we constantly monitor activity within UK waters to counter and deter threats.

“The Royal Navy seeks to exploit and deploy new technologies alongside existing systems to enhance our ability to detect subsurface threats, with programmes seeking to rapidly adopt remote and autonomous anti-submarine sensors. The details of future capabilities are subject to consideration through the Strategic Defence Review.”

Monitoring Russian ships and protecting undersea cables

The Royal Navy has always maintained that monitoring British water, as well as keeping their beady eyes on Russian ships, have always been routine operations for the force. Vessels including HMS Iron Duke, HMS Tyne, Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, various aircraft and other assets, have all been deployed in such operations.

Most recently, HMS Somerset kept watch over the Russian corvette Boikiy for three days as it escorted merchant vessel Baltic Leader on its voyage from Syria - transporting military hardware from a naval base in Tartus. Moscow has regularly been blamed for damaging underwater infrastructure in an effort to destabilise nations. One power cable transporting electricity from Finland to Estonia was damaged on Christmas Day.

Dr Margriet Drent, who works for The Netherlands’ Ministry of Defence, previously told a Defence Select Committee meeting that a strong deterrent was the only answer for protecting such infrastructure. She added: “This would make sure the threshold of armed conflict is not reached, because the deterrent is strong enough not to do that. The response of the armed forces to hybrid threats is very important, that they are on the higher spectrum of the escalation ladder.”