Description: NATO Allied Command Transformation has announced the newest addition to the Baltic Sentry project in the form of unmanned maritime underwater surveillance systems. The underwater systems would be part of the Task Force X established as part of NATO’s Digital Ocean Vision program and would leverage AI – based systems for surveillance and detection of maritime threats. The initiative comes as a response to enhanced covert sabotage operations conducted by Russian ships within EU and NATO waters, such as the destruction of undersea cables and other critical infrastructure elements. The testing of the system was scheduled in mid – Feb 2025.
Impact: NATO’s response to Russian sabotage attacks on maritime infrastructure can be perceived as a form of recalibration and recuperation of NATO – allied countries in terms of defense. The much necessary Baltic Sentry project is expected to substantially counter Russian hybrid warfare attempts as the number of these kind of projects rises. Enforcing enlargement of defense capabilities is key to future success for EU and NATO allies as Russia has proven their omnipresence in terms of hybrid attacks which caused significant damage to EU and NATO infrastructure capabilities and disabled channels of support for Ukraine in their war against Russia.