This spring, in the deep Arctic waters near the Svalbard archipelago, NATO allies discovered that Russian submarine forces were training to use a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving visible traces. Reuters reported this, citing two officials.
According to the agency, the operation was carried out by Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) of the Defense Ministry. Deep-sea submersibles were used to simulate deployment of technology. Sources said the weapon is designed to take cables out of action without leaving fingerprints. Officials did not disclose how the system works.
Britain, Norway and the United States conducted a joint operation: they tracked the Russian vessels and prevented them from completing the exercise. The ships then left the area. In April, London and Oslo had already said they had uncovered a covert Russian operation in Arctic waters. At that time, they did not name the nature of the weapon, the precise location near Svalbard, or U.S. involvement.
No cables were damaged. According to Reuters sources, the activity was a rehearsal for a possible conflict with NATO rather than an actual sabotage operation. Two fiber-optic cables about 1,400 km long connect Svalbard with mainland Norway and lie as deep as 2,700 meters. They carry large volumes of satellite data from the SvalSat station — the world’s largest facility of its kind and part of NASA’s Near Space Network.
