The UK Royal Navy (RN) is leading a multinational task force deployment conducting critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) security operations across North Atlantic waters, including the English Channel, the North and Baltic seas (and their connecting Skagerrak/Kattegat straits), and the Norwegian and Barents seas.
Dr Lee Willett 03 Jan 2024
The Northern Europe-focused Joint Expeditionary Force – Maritime (JEF-M) task force was deployed following a JEF defence ministers’ decision, on 28 November, to activate a JEF Response Option (JRO) to strengthen CUI protection in Northern European waters. This was the first time JEF had activated a JRO, and is the first time the JEF-M task force has conducted CUI operations.
“The JEF countries are coastal countries, and the importance of CUI is well understood between these neighbours. Disruption in one area may inadvertently affect another,” Group Captain Kevin Latchman, a UK Royal Air Force (RAF) officer posted as JEF’s Director of Communications, told Naval News on 11 December.
“As reliance on CUI continues to grow, JEF is demonstrating that it can act in contributing to the protection of these assets. The execution of this JRO is developing JEF’s ability to operate together, in a dispersed and co-ordinated manner, to deliver pan-regional effects,” he added.
Group Captain Kevin Latchman, a UK Royal Air Force (RAF) officer
The JEF-M task force commenced operations in early December, following the arrival of the RN Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond in Gothenburg, Sweden. The JEF deployment (JRO 3.2) includes almost 30 ships and 11 aircraft, drawn from nine of JEF’s 10 member states. The UK is JEF framework lead, and is contributing seven RN ships and an RAF P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).
“The units involved have been specifically selected by their countries to support delivery of this activity,” Gp Capt Latchman said, highlighting the undersea survey capabilities provided by specialist civilian and military vessels and MPAs.
Recent events have demonstrated the real seabed warfare risk in the region, and the need to enhance CUI protection through preparedness and presence. The Baltic Sea, for example, was the location for two prominent CUI-related incidents; the two Nordstream gas pipelines suffered explosions in September 2022; and the BalticConnector gas pipeline and nearby telecommunications cables suffered ruptures in October 2023.
The extensive geographic range JRO 3.2 is covering – but also the extensive CUI threat range – is demonstrated in the deployment’s activities. In early December, Norwegian armed forces posts on X (formerly Twitter) revealed that the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen was deployed to the Barents Sea, protecting Goliat oil field CUI, with the Skjold-class corvette HNoMS Glimt in the Norwegian Sea securing the Nyhamna gas facility. In parallel, RN, Finnish Navy, Finnish Border Guard, and Estonian Navy ships were working together in the Baltic. Commodore Janne Huusko, Assistant Chief of Operations in Finland’s Defence Command, said the JRO deployment and NATO’s increased regional naval presence strengthen CUI surveillance and protection.
JRO 3.2 is targeting several specific regions, namely: waters around the UK, including the Western Approaches and the North Sea; the Norwegian Sea; and the Baltic region, including the entrance through Skagerrak/Kattegat, the central Baltic from Stockholm across to the Baltic States, and the Gulf of Finland. Covering collectively around 1 million m2, these designated operational areas have been mapped to factor in CUI that is of relevance to JEF countries, Gp Capt Latchman said.
JEF is designed to provide credible response options and to build regional deterrence and defence ‘left of the line’ of escalation into crisis or conflict. ‘Left of the line’ activities include deterring hybrid threats to CUI, for example. JEF operates independently from but in support of NATO activities. JEF-M began operating in 2019. Following the Russo-Ukraine war erupting in February 2022, JEF began developing the JRO framework to enhance JEF support for NATO operations.
“The JROs have been developed to increase our collective capability, address military threats, and deter malign actions in our neighbourhood, including hybrid threats against our CUI,” Gp Capt Latchman explained. JRO 3.2 is building on NATO-enhanced vigilance activities that took place in and around the Baltic Sea region in November. “The activation of this particular JRO has been deliberately sequenced with NATO’s enhanced vigilance activity to provide a persistent response following recent events in the Baltic Sea region,” Gp Capt Latchman added.
JRO 3.2 will also demonstrate JEF’s capacity to conduct complex and coordinated activities in challenging operational circ*mstances. Tasking includes patrolling key areas at sea and from air; conducting underwater surveillance and surveys, diving operations, and coastal security patrols; and building a recognised maritime picture. “By deploying maritime and air capabilities during a JRO, JEF demonstrates its shared commitment to increase maritime and overall Baltic-Nordic security. This also contributes to Euro-Atlantic security with NATO and other organizations,” a JEF fact sheet released alongside the deployment stated.
RN statements released since JRO 3.2 commenced noted that the deployment will conduct deterrent patrols in key areas, increase surveillance around offshore assets, share intelligence, and monitor Russian ship and aircraft activity within routine patterns of life.
The JEF members are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK.
