Royal Navy Launches New Atlantic Strategy Against Russian Threat

The Royal Navy is testing new autonomous underwater technology, including the SG-1 Fathom glider, as part of its emerging Atlantic Bastion strategy to counter increasing Russian submarine activity in UK waters.

sarah

Dec 8, 2025 - 10:37

Royal Navy Launches New Atlantic Strategy Against Russian Threat

In deep waters off the west coast of Scotland, a slender submarine glider with wings resembling a torpedo glides beneath the surface and quickly disappears into the darkness.

SG-1 Fathom is on the lookout for intruders.

"The glider patrols the depths of the ocean, monitoring and listening for enemy activity in the area," says Katie Wren, Fathom's program manager.

Adversaries such as Russian submarines are operating covertly in or near British waters, suspected of working with spy ships to map the UK's vital undersea cables and pipelines.

Fathhom, built by the German defense company Helsing and now being tested by the Royal Navy, operates silently, its sensors constantly gathering information.

It is designed to patrol for months, operates autonomously with dozens of other gliders, and uses software trained on decades of acoustic data.

"The glider processes and detects threats faster than ever before," says Wren.

If proven effective, Fathom will likely become part of Atlantic Bastion, a network of drones, warships, and surveillance aircraft aimed at protecting critical undersea infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defence, which showcased parts of Atlantic Bastion on Monday, said in a statement that the program is "in direct response to a renewed increase in Russian submarine and underwater activity."

The government says the number of Russian vessels posing threats in UK waters has increased by 30% in the past two years. Russia says it is the UK government that is provoking this.

In September, the Parliamentary National Security Strategy Committee said it had "no confidence" that the UK was prepared to protect its undersea cables, and warned that an attack could cause "major disruption" to vital financial and communication systems.

Last month, Yantar, a Russian marine research vessel suspected of mapping British undersea cables and pipelines, fired laser beams at RAF pilots tracking its progress near UK waters.

Defense Secretary John Healey described the action as "very dangerous," noting that Yantar had repeatedly entered and left the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone.

On a visit to Portsmouth last week, Healey stressed that government investment in new technology is crucial to counter this threat.

"It's about keeping us ahead of the Russians," he told me aboard the XV Patrick Blackett, a Royal Navy experimental ship used as a testbed for new technology.

Some of the new technology was on display, from a remote-controlled speedboat speeding through the harbor to a mock-up of the Navy's first unmanned helicopter, Proteus.

Above us on the dock hung the black hull of Excalibur, a 12-meter-long, 19-ton unmanned submarine that had launched for the first time earlier this year.

"We know the threat posed by Russia," Healy said. "We track what their ships do. We track what their submarines are doing.

"We know they're mapping our undersea cables, our networks, and our pipelines, and we know they're developing new capabilities all the time to threaten them."

With his Norwegian counterpart, Tore O. Sandvik, when the two countries signed a defense pact—the Lunna House Agreement—to work together to hunt Russian submarines and protect underwater infrastructure, Healey said time is precious.

"This is a rapidly evolving threat and therefore requires a rapid response from the UK."

This poses a major challenge for First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the man overseeing Britain's response.

So how will the UK confront an enemy that hasn't declared war, but is investing heavily and behaving more aggressively in increasingly difficult ways?

"The cost of war in Ukraine" Despite paying [Russia] back, they continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in their submarines. "We still have an edge in the Atlantic, but it's not as much of an advantage as I would like," he said. We are under pressure, and we are certainly in a competition to stay ahead of the Russians."

Others are less optimistic.

Professor Peter Roberts, an expert on modern conflict at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), says the Royal Navy's new strategy looks good on paper but "seems like putting lipstick on a pig."

He argues that the UK has "ignored" its responsibility as guardian of the Western Atlantic since World War II, and now the Royal Navy is "trying to find a way to appear credible" in dealing with a threat that has "been growing steadily over the last 20 years... but the government and the Navy are still ignoring it."

Professor Roberts adds, "The Royal Navy doesn't have the ships to do this job properly or reliably and is considering using drones because they are cheaper and can cover the geographical areas for which the Royal Navy is responsible, rather than new ships." Is."

"Russia so far is going unchallenged in much of UK water space and this strategy is playing catch up long after the fact."

Russia says it's Britain that's being provocative, even hysterical.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow that the Lunna House Agreement was being used to justify "monitoring Russian naval activity" and risked "provoking unnecessary conflicts" in international waters.

But the military says it's clear-eyed about the dangers. And it's working closely with industry to address them.