AI fortifies undersea cable security against shadow fleet
The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), comprising forces from 10 Northern European countries, has used artificial intelligence to enhance the protection of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and monitor the Russian "shadow fleet," among other initiatives. The governments of the United Kingdom and Sweden announced this.
The British AI-based tool gathers data from several sources regarding suspicious ships and their positions in real time over vast maritime areas and assesses the risk of an incident occurring.
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"The Nordic Warden system helps protect us from sabotage and instances of extreme negligence," emphasised John Healey, the UK's Defence Minister, in a statement, as the country leading the JEF.
Ship monitoring is conducted from JEF headquarters in Northwood (near London), from where, in the event of a threat, a warning will be sent to JEF patrols and NATO countries. The use of artificial intelligence for this purpose was tested for the first time in the summer of 2024.
The Swedish government reminded in a statement that the countries involved in the JEF (Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) decided to enhance Baltic monitoring for the second time in history. The first joint patrols, consisting of 20 warships, were dispatched in the autumn of 2023; it was then emphasised that this was a "clear signal to deter Russia."
Sweden's Defence Minister Pal Jonson noted that "the activities of the JEF complement NATO's presence in the Baltic Sea." "It means further strengthening of monitoring and protection of critical infrastructure," Jonson stressed.
