NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The most pressing threat to Northern European nations is Russia’s and China’s gray zone threats on undersea lines of communication, senior NATO navy leaders said Monday.
The attacks have prompted Northern European navies to work with NATO and the European Union in ensuring the cables’ security through use of unmanned systems to identify and repair damaged systems and increased air and maritime patrols. They are also focused on the movement of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of tankers and cargo carriers through the Baltic Sea, moving oil and goods out of Russia.
Rear Adm. Soren Kjeldsen, admiral of the Danish Fleet, said these attacks prompted the Danes to enter into “a whole new way of defense planning” that actively involves industry in protecting this critical infrastructure.
Speaking at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium, Rear Adm. Harold Liebregs, deputy commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy, said “Europe needs to step up; Europe needs to do more” in its own self-defense.
The main challenge in countering “gray zone activities” and also piracy is the ability and hesitancy to share information between militaries, industries and governments, he said. “The same is true with navies and law enforcement” in countering these activities on the sea.
The Caribbean could be a model for NATO in how nations there share information on migration, human and narcotics trafficking and illegal fishing in addressing these challenges, Liebregs said.
“We need to develop” systems and platforms faster in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago, he added. Liebregs said that unmanned systems to protect critical infrastructure are a good start that the European Union has taken following the disruption of undersea communications traffic.
Allies need to be complementary when developing systems, Rear Adm. Dirk Gartner, director of plans and policy in the German navy, said.
“We have a strong history of maritime industry” but now as NATO members, “we need to find ways to work with our neighbors” on common threats, Rear Adm. Frederik Linden, director of the naval systems division in Sweden’s Defense Materiel Division.”
That will lead to “credible deterrence” against Russian aggression by showing alliance members are “ready to fight tonight; ready to fight tomorrow,” Gartner added.
“We’re picking up the pace of innovation” in addressing threats from the Baltic to the Arctic with increased investment in defense, Linden said.
But years of declining or holding to lower defense spending plans had a major impact on the continent’s defense industries.
The pressures of providing military support to Kyiv over the last three years caused NATO members’ parliaments and governments to take hard looks at their own defense industrial capacity.
Looking at naval needs alone, Kinden said in Sweden, “we have the skill set; we have the toolset; we have to build the mindset” to move from sea denial in the Baltic to sea control within the alliance. He added Sweden like most NATO members has upped its defense spending sees the challenge “in spending money wisely” for future security.
The challenge in Germany now “is not getting the money,” but of re-establishing a defense “industry not capable of building the systems” after years of declining or frozen budgets, Gartner said.
One lesson Ukraine taught other nations “is weapons systems can be outdated in six weeks,” Liebregs added. While some smaller NATO nations see value in having their larger commercial fleets prepared and contracted to provide strategic sealift, the Netherlands is looking at hybrid crews of military and civilian mariners. They will serve on commercial vessels modified for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance and possibly air defense in the future.
“Mass matters” in conflict; “we need to be building mass by effect. For Sweden that means unmanned,” Linden added. Likewise, Gartner added that manned-unmanned teaming was high on Germany’s defense priorities.
