Company insight
The main difference with REPMUS (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems) in Portugal is the complex shallow water environment and the fact that static infrastructure needs to be defended against an agile threat in a very noisy underwater environment. Their motto is “learning by doing”. All data coming from the challenges are collected and analysed in TNO’s VBED research tool and made available for all participants, which is unique. Based on this, we not only learn what is already possible but also assess capability development goals. TNO can assist industries with that. SeaSEC aims to expand the activities to other locations such as, for example, the Baltic Sea. More information on their website (
https://seasec.org/milestones).
Could you explain some of the biggest challenges of securing underwater infrastructure in shallow waters? How does TNO address these challenges through innovative solutions and collaborations?
At this point in time, there is an almost daily threat of ships of the Russian Federation collecting data in our Exclusive Economic Zone. Since this is outside the territorial waters, there is no way of denying these activities under current United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) regulations. As soon as underwater vehicles are deployed from these ships, we need to know exactly what they are doing. One challenge we need to tackle immediately is to know exactly what happens to our CUI both at the surface and underwater – which is having maritime situational understanding. To this end, we look into innovative mobile and static sensor solutions specifically focusing on CUI at risk in hybrid or wartime scenarios.
A second challenge is that situational understanding needs to be followed up by action – both deterring and neutralising the threat. In the medium term, we foresee mobile UUV solutions for attribution and direct action against perpetrators.
Another challenge is to establish civil-military interoperability between
TNO integrates large amounts of static and dynamic data to assist with its analysis.
all stakeholders, from asset owners to government agencies. A single source of truth, consisting of hydrographic, geological data plus the exact CUI digital data is needed, plus new forms of data collaboration with all governments and asset owners. Finally, we advocate a scenario-based resilience requirement in all government tenders for new windfarms, internet cables and power stations against emerging threats.
Looking ahead, what are TNO’s key priorities and strategies for enhancing the security of critical underwater infrastructure and contributing to international cooperation in this domain? Our key priority as TNO is to support all government agencies in their endeavours to counter the threat to CUI and to develop innovative capabilities with industry. The solution lies in international civil-military cooperation, not only between NNCC countries, but also within Nato and the EU. We need to bring together all levels of governments of nations bordering the shallow North Sea and Baltic Sea with their respective industries and asset owners. For new and existing industries, the ability to produce and develop products at the scale of Nato makes it commercially relevant to invest in the development and production of new European defence systems. To be effective in our European defence, high
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
interoperability of different suppliers and the ability of different systems to exchange information effectively is extremely important. Not only now, but especially in times
of war, we want to be able to replace equipment quickly and effectively when it is damaged or sabotaged. The resilience of the EU increases with high production capacity of interchangeable equipment that is operationally effective in the whole of the EU and across Nato. TNO contributes to this interoperability with the development of standardised underwater communication protocols. TNO works with industry and governments to develop static and mobile sensors and effectors to protect high-risk assets. In the mid-term future, the threat will evolve – both tactically and technologically. For example, extra-large UUVs will change the game considerably because they can be deployed from outside our EEZ. The evolving threat means investing continuously in our technology foresight about these and other emerging technologies. Using our risk-based approach, TNO will develop operational scenarios and concepts for CUI protection. All things considered, this is a race against time, but I am confident that TNO has the relevant knowledge and expertise to contribute to winning this race.●
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