Submarine Caught While Surfaced Near Undersea Internet Cable Hub

In September, the French frigate Normandie, in coordination with naval forces of NATO allies such as Spain and the United Kingdom, escorted a Russian submarine and its accompanying tugboat through the Bay of Biscay.

The question, of course, is: What was the Russian submarine doing there in the first place?

We can only speculate, but there are some pretty solid grounds for speculation.

We know, for example, that Russian submarines have been training to severe underwater cables since at least 1970 — over 50 years.

In fact, the Russian November-class K-8 submarine sank in those very waters, the Bay of Biscay, during naval war games that assigned that very mission to her, according to The National Interest.

Trending:

ICYMI: Republican Booted from Town Hall Audience Before Opponent Who Refuses to Debate Took the Stage

We also know that, although satellite communication and other, more recent technologies (the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1858) carry some important international communications, the backbone of global connection — CNN called it “the invisible force driving the modern internet” — remains the underwater cable.

“They carry almost all our communications and yet – in a world of wireless networking and smartphones — we are barely aware that they exist,” CNN wrote. “Yet as the internet has become more mobile and wireless, the amount of data traveling across undersea cables has increased exponentially.”

The importance of clear communications — both tactical and strategic — in a wartime scenario hardly even needs mentioning.

Will undersea cables become a target for military action?

Finally, we note the presence of numerous undersea cables running along the bottom of the Bay of Biscay, as illustrated in this submarine cable map maintained by TeleGeography.

I’d suggest that you do the math, but I suspect you’ve already done it.

The September operation enjoyed “perfect coordination” among the NATO military branches involved, according to a tweet from “official Navy account” of France.

A tweet from the official Twitter account of the Maritime Prefecture and the Atlantic Command (thank you, Google Translate) echoed that sentiment.

Related:

Pentagon Diversity Chief Pushes Book Calling 9/11 First Responders ‘Menaces’ on Children

Does that mean that this Russian submarine was definitely engaged in some undersea cable-cutting exercises? Of course it doesn’t, any more than the presence of the tugboat meant that the submarine was disabled — the Russians are masters of propaganda and disinformation, and for all we know they wanted the West to know they had a submarine presence there.

But, given that the Nord Stream gas pipeline was apparently sabotaged by underwater explosions only days before this submarine was intercepted, the threat to our global communications can be ignored only at our peril.

“People are so mobile and always looking for Wi-Fi,” Byron Clatterbuck, chief executive of Seacom, told CNN. Seacom is a multinational telecommunications company that has laid many of the undersea cables that connect Africa globally.

“They don’t think about it, they don’t understand the workings of this massive mesh of cables working together.

“They only notice when it’s cut.”

Let’s hope our military leaders are paying attention a little before that happens.

George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and an occasional co-host of “WJ Live,” powered by The Western Journal. He is currently editor-at-large. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.

George Upper, editor-at-large of The Western Journal, is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He now lives in central North Carolina with his wife and a Maine Coon named Princess Leia, for whose name he is not responsible. He is active in the teaching and security ministries in his church and is a lifetime member of the NRA. In his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He writes “The Upper Cut,” a weekly column that appears quarterly (more or less). He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens, and the Oxford comma.

Birthplace

Foxborough, Massachusetts

Nationality

American

Honors/Awards

Beta Gamma Sigma

Education

B.A., English, UNCG; M.A., English, UNCG; MBA, UNCG

Location

North Carolina

Languages Spoken

English

Topics of Expertise

Faith, Business, Leadership and Management, Military



Source link

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*