Comment: Russian incursion demonstrates our vulnerability in dangerous times
News that three Russian vessels spent a month loitering over Britain’s undersea cables is grave cause for concern
As the world’s eyes are all focused on the Middle East, we now learn that a Russian attack submarine and two spy submarines spent a month loitering over critical undersea cables in the North Atlantic before they eventually retreated.
This is a disturbing development to say the least.
We only have to look at the damage caused to Jaguar Land Rover and Marks & Spencer to see how vulnerable the UK economy is to online attack.
If a hostile nation attacked the UK’s cable network, the consequences do not bear thinking about.
The country’s financial sector would grind to a standstill, with billions of daily international transactions grinding to a halt. It would lead to massive disruption to the country’s communications and data flow, causing the collapse of essential infrastructure, including the nation’s power supply. Hospitals would be unable to access patient records, putting lives at risk.
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy has declined to the point that it has had to borrow a frigate from Germany to fulfil its Nato requirements, and is left with just two operational Type 45 destroyers while three others are receiving long-planned engine upgrades. Given that the Royal Navy has seen its fleet fall from 1,400 ships during the Second World War, to just 63 today, it is perhaps not surprising that Putin’s forces thought they would try their luck.
The fact that not one, but three hostile vessels were able to spend a month in our waters above our communication cables should be a major wake-up call for our country, with urgent action to ensure there will be no repeat of this breach. The post cold-war ‘peace dividend’ saw defence spending fall from a peak of five per cent of GDP in the late 1980s to 2.7 per cent today. The Government has pledged to increase this to 3.5 per cent by 2035 - we can only hope that Putin and his like do not put us to the test before then.
There was a time when Britannia ruled the waves. It should not be too much to ask that it can defend its undersea cables.
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