At Europe’s Atlantic edge, Ireland to focus on undersea monitoring

MILAN – Ireland is doubling down on subsea monitoring, a discipline of naval warfare the country has so far largely overlooked but that represents a key capability in the context of the country’s strategic location on the northwestern edge of Europe.

The Irish government published its latest Defense Policy Review earlier this summer, which sets the posture of the national military forces in response to current security threats.

“Ireland’s security environment is undergoing a period of profound change; our geographic position and policy of military neutrality no longer minimize threats posed by malign actors,” the document stated.

The wider field of maritime security is among the listed priorities, for which the review recommends buying a naval surveillance radar and sonar capability to monitor undersea goings-on in the waters around the island.

The plan is to combine these capabilities into an integrated monitoring system for the air and land domains as well with the acquisition of a ground-based air defense system.

Dublin’s waters are located in a nexus of a wide network of undersea cables, the global seafloor links through which roughly approximately 97% of global communications and internet traffic travels. According to public broadcaster RTE, three-quarters of all cables in the northern hemisphere pass through or near Irish waters, most of them off the southwest coast.

Any disruption or sabotage to these cables could have significant repercussions for the international economy and services.

The new defense review also says new capability development will focus on sub-sea, littoral and critical maritime infrastructure to enhance naval defense and enable the operationalization of inshore patrol vessels acquired from New Zealand in 2022.

Meanwhile, officials are in the process of developing a new national maritime security strategy, led by the country’s Department of Defense, which likely will flesh out Dublins’s subsea ambitions.

In an attempt to grow the country’s role in securing sea communication lines, the Irish government received lawmakers’ approval in July to join the Italian-led Critical Seabed Infrastructure Protection project of the European Union.

The initiative, launched in May 2023, is part of the Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO framework, where seven EU member states collaborate to improve their underwater surveillance assets and capabilities.

While the addition of Ireland to the project represents an important step in its expansion of subsea know-how, it was met by criticism from other lawmakers, who viewed the move as straying it away from the country’s longstanding policy of military neutrality.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——爱尔兰正在加倍投入水下监测，这是该国迄今为止在很大程度上忽视的海军作战领域，但就该国位于欧洲西北边缘的战略位置而言，这代表着一项关键能力。

今年夏天早些时候，爱尔兰政府发布了最新的国防政策评估报告，该报告确定了国家军队应对当前安全威胁的态势。

“爱尔兰的安全环境正在经历深刻的变化；我们的地理位置和军事中立政策已无法最大限度地减少恶意行为者构成的威胁，”该文件指出。

更广泛的海上安全领域是列出的优先事项之一，审查建议购买海军监视雷达和声呐设备，以监测该岛周围水域的水下活动。

该计划是将这些能力整合到一个用于空中和陆地领域的综合监控系统中，同时采购一套地面防空系统。

都柏林海域位于庞大的海底电缆网络枢纽，全球约97%的通信和互联网流量都通过这些海底电缆传输。据爱尔兰公共广播公司RTE报道，北半球四分之三的电缆都经过或靠近爱尔兰海域，其中大部分位于西南海岸附近。

任何对这些海底电缆的破坏或干扰都可能对国际经济和服务产生重大影响。

新的国防评估报告还指出，新的能力发展将侧重于海底、近岸和关键海上基础设施，以增强海军防御能力，并使2022年从新西兰购入的近岸巡逻舰投入使用。

与此同时，在国防部的领导下，官员们正在制定一项新的国家海上安全战略，该战略可能会进一步完善都柏林的海底雄心。

为了增强爱尔兰在保障海上通信线路方面的作用，爱尔兰政府于 7 月获得议员批准，加入由意大利牵头的欧盟关键海底基础设施保护项目。

该倡议于 2023 年 5 月启动，是永久结构性合作（PESCO）框架的一部分，该框架由七个欧盟成员国合作组成，旨在提高其水下监视资产和能力。

虽然爱尔兰加入该项目代表着该国在扩大海底技术方面迈出了重要一步，但此举却遭到了其他立法者的批评，他们认为此举使爱尔兰偏离了该国长期以来奉行的军事中立政策。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。