Russia has 'stepped on the gas' with its submarine fleet - and NATO is on alert

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Recent US military operations around <keyword id="6356961" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="norway">Norway</keyword> underscore that country's strategic value for <keyword id="6371298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="NATO">NATO</keyword> as geopolitical competition grows in the <keyword id="59606" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="arctic">Arctic</keyword>.</li><li>Those events, and that growing competition, come as the Trump administration rearranges the US military presence in Europe.</li></ul><p>US military activity around Norway this month reflects the continuing strategic value of NATO's northernmost member, even as the Trump administration changes the US footprint there and across Europe.</p><p>The US and Norwegian militaries <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-corps-force-redesign-means-taking-tanks-from-norway-caves-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have longstanding ties</a>, but military <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-exercise-dynamic-mongoose-practices-anti-submarine-warfare-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activity in the area has increased</a> as the region grows more accessible and tensions with <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> remain high. Mid-August saw a flurry of such activity by the US.</p><div type="image" title="Navy destroyer Roosevelt Norway" height="1874" width="2500" msid="77842017" hostid="261"></div><p>On August 17, guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt stopped in Tromsø in northern Norway after a 50-day patrol in the high north, where the Roosevelt and other US ships "have received steadfast support from Norway," the Navy said.</p><p>On August 21, the West Coast-based attack submarine USS Seawolf made a brief stop near Tromsø after traveling across the planet to operate around Europe.</p><p>The Navy rarely announces the whereabouts of its subs — especially one of the sophisticated Seawolf class, <a href="https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/ssn-21.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designed to take on</a> the Soviets — indicating this was likely meant as a message.</p><p>"The arrival of Seawolf compliments our already robust undersea warfare capabilities and demonstrates our continued commitment to providing maritime security and deterrence throughout the region," Rear Adm. Anthony Carullo, commander of the Naples-based Submarine Group 8, said in a release.</p><div type="image" title="Norway F-16 Air Force B-52" height="675" width="1200" msid="77842019" hostid="261"></div><p>The action wasn't limited to the sea. Norwegian fighter jets trained with <keyword id="6404246" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-air-force">US Air Force</keyword> B-52 bombers before the bombers' August 22 arrival in the UK for a bomber task force rotation.</p><p>"Training outside the US enables aircrew and airmen to become familiar with other theaters and airspace" and to build on existing skills and relationships, an Air Force spokesperson said in an email.</p><p>Flight trackers appeared to <a href="https://twitter.com/nukestrat/status/1297538866589642752/photo/3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show the bombers</a> flying north from North Dakota, traveling over Greenland and through the Arctic before approaching the UK over the Norwegian Sea. The Air Force spokesperson declined to comment on the bombers' route, citing operational security.</p><h2>'We are wherever we want'</h2><div type="image" title="Norway Norwegian soldiers Arctic Russia" height="1666" width="2500" msid="77842022" hostid="261"></div><p>As Russian military capabilities in the Arctic eroded after the Cold War, NATO's focus on the region "rapidly faded," said Heather Conley, senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic at the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies.</p><p>Interest in the Arctic has grown recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/record-heat-in-the-arctic-is-affecting-ice-cover-fisheries-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as it becomes more accessible</a>. Russia has refocused on the region as an economic and military imperative "for well over the past decade," Conley said. "The US and NATO have only recently arrived at the rediscovery phase about two years ago."</p><p>Russia, which has the world's longest Arctic coastline, has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-nato-increasing-military-activity-in-the-arctic-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refurbishing military facilities there</a> and conducting more exercises.</p><p>The US has "grown steadily concerned" about Russia's moves, particularly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-exercise-dynamic-mongoose-practices-anti-submarine-warfare-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its submarine activity</a> in the North Atlantic as well as flights farther south by its long-range bombers, Conley said. The US has increased its Arctic activity, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-surface-ships-sail-into-barents-sea-near-russia-2020-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">military exercises not done since the Cold War</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Russia submarine Arctic" height="921" width="1400" msid="77842027" hostid="261"></div><p>With the recent activity around Norway, "the US is signaling, with its NATO partners, that it will deter and defend NATO's northern flank and the North Atlantic," Conley said.</p><p>Actions by one side in one part of the Arctic are often matched by the other in another part. Conley pointed to a recent Russian military exercise near Alaska as context for events around Norway.</p><p>A Russian sub that surfaced during those drills was "a signal" that "we are wherever we want," a former Russian navy chief of staff <a href="https://apnews.com/1f6c6dceba65e893aeeee9dfa814ef8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Russian state media.</p><p>There is uncertainty on both sides <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-nato-increasing-military-activity-in-the-arctic-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about the other's intentions in the Arctic</a>, and a proper forum is "urgently" needed to provide transparency for increasing military activity there, Conley said.</p><h2>NATO's eyes and ears</h2><div type="image" title="Marine Corps Marines Norway" height="1667" width="2500" msid="77842032" hostid="261"></div><p>The increase in US activity in Europe's high north comes as the US revises its military footprint around the continent.</p><p>In July, top US defense officials announced that thousands of US troops stationed in Germany would return home or move elsewhere in Europe, saying the moves improved operational efficiency and positioning.</p><p>Critics argued the changes didn't necessarily improve readiness and pointed instead to President Donald Trump's disdain for Germany as a motive, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-defense-officials-detail-plans-to-withdraw-troops-from-germany-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump himself basically confirmed</a> hours later.</p><p>The <keyword id="192842" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="US-Marine-Corps">US Marine Corps</keyword> also said this month that it was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-corps-force-redesign-means-taking-tanks-from-norway-caves-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adjusting its presence in Norway</a>, ending the back-to-back rotations of several hundred Marines that it has conducted since 2017 and shifting to an "episodic" presence aligned with military exercises there.</p><p>The risk of a conflict starting in the high north is still considered low, but Norway and its neighbors have noted increasing Russian military activity, particularly its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nordic-countries-monitor-surge-in-missile-testing-by-russia-2019-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tests of new weapons</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Norway soldiers troops Arctic air defense missile" height="933" width="1400" msid="77842033" hostid="261"></div><p>"As a close neighbor to Russia in the north, Norway is witnessing an increasingly potent Russian military capability," Tone Skogen, state secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, <a href="https://www.csis.org/events/online-event-enhancing-security-high-north" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said at a CSIS event</a> in June.</p><p>Russian exercises have shown "how Russia is increasingly coming closer to our coasts [and] how they are increasingly farther south," Skogen said.</p><p>With those exercises, Skogen added, Russia has been able "to more or less successfully demonstrate" an ability to close off the Scandinavian Peninsula to protect its military installations on the nearby Kola Peninsula, where the powerful Northern Fleet is based.</p><p>Though new military capabilities have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-corps-force-redesign-means-taking-tanks-from-norway-caves-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changed what a conflict with Russia might look like in Norway</a>, the <keyword id="117964" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nordic">Nordic</keyword> country remains strategically important.</p><p style="font-weight: 400;">"Norway has and continues to be vital to the protection of Europe and North America through the 'avenue of approach' from the High North," Conley said. "Norway is NATO's 'sentry' in the North and its eyes and ears to detect Russian military activity near and around the Kola Peninsula and Russia's Northern Fleet."</p>

As Trump shakes up the military footprint in Europe, the US and Russia are making moves in the high north

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Navy destroyer <keyword id="2132528" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="USS-Kidd">USS Kidd</keyword> was spotted flying the skull and crossbones as it returned to its homeport this week.</li><li>The Kidd is named after an admiral who was killed at Pearl Harbor, but the infamous <keyword id="63518" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="pirate">pirate</keyword> Captain Kidd has long been its mascot.</li><li>Three ships have been named Kidd, and they have been the only US Navy ships authorized to fly the Jolly Roger.</li></ul><p>The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100) hoisted the Jolly Roger — a black banner adorned with a white skull and crossbones that is commonly associated with piracy —  as it returned to its homeport this week.</p><p>A Navy photo, <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36644/heres-why-the-destroyer-uss-kidd-was-flying-a-huge-pirate-flag-as-it-pulled-into-port">first spotted by The War Zone</a>, shows the unusual <keyword id="6379295" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="flag">flag</keyword> flying alongside the American flag as the destroyer sails into port at Naval Station Everett in Washington after a deployment to the 4th Fleet area of operations, which includes the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.</p><div type="image" title="Guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) pulls into its homeport of Naval Station Everett (NSE)" height="342" width="457" msid="78285692" hostid="261"></div><p>While the skull and crossbones were initially associated with piracy, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/09/13/why-did-one-of-the-u-s-navys-most-advanced-subs-return-to-port-with-a-pirate-flag/">submariners adopted the fearsome flag during World War I</a>, when the British submarine HMS E-9 hoisted the Jolly Roger after sinking the German battle cruiser Hela.</p><p>It became a tradition, one that spread beyond the Royal Navy and came to mark a successful patrol, not necessarily the sinking of an enemy vessel.</p><p>In 2017, the Navy released a photo of the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter transiting the Hood Canal as it returned to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. In the Navy photo, a black flag that appears to be the Jolly Roger can be seen.</p><div type="image" title="Cmdr. Melvin Smith, commanding officer of the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), looks on as the submarine transits the Hood Canal on its way home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor." height="664" width="1000" msid="78285695" hostid="261"></div><p>The USS Kidd, despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-outbreak-aboard-deployed-us-navy-destroyer-2020-4">an early COVID-19 setback shortly after the start of its deployment</a> in April, had a relatively successful deployment, supporting counternarcotics operations and at one point assisting the Coast Guard in intercepting 805 kilograms of cocaine worth about $30 million, <a href="https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/display-news/Article/2354882/uss-kidd-completes-counternarcotics-deployment/">the Navy announced</a>.</p><p>But that's not why the ship flies its pirate flag.</p><p>The first USS Kidd (DD-661) was a Fletcher-class destroyer named after Rear Adm. Isaac Kidd, who was killed aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.</p><p>The rear admiral had the nickname "Cap" — a reference to the Scottish pirate Captain William Kidd — when he went through the US Naval Academy.</p><p>The crew of the USS Kidd, which was commissioned in 1943, adopted the pirate as their mascot. On the USS Kidd's first voyage, the crew flew the Jolly Roger with the permission of the admiral's widow, Inez Kidd, who convinced Navy leaders to permit it. The crew of the USS Kidd became known as the "Pirates of the Pacific."</p><p>The USS Kidd is the only surface ship in the US Navy permitted to fly the flag of piracy.</p><div type="image" title="The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) returns to its homeport, Naval Station Everett, after a six-month deployment with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, Dec. 10, 2017" height="714" width="1000" msid="78285697" hostid="261"></div><p>The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100), commissioned in 2007, is the third ship to bear this name, and it "continues the tradition of this legacy and flies the Jolly Roger proudly and with distinction," according to the Navy.</p><p><a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/mandatory-fun/navy-uss-kidd-jolly-roger">As Task &amp; Purpose notes</a>, this week's photo of the USS Kidd flying the Jolly Roger comes just a few months after the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-effectively-bans-confederate-flag-on-us-bases-2020-7">Pentagon issued a memo placing restrictions on the flying of certain types of flags</a>.</p><p>A 3rd Fleet spokesman told Insider that "the Jolly Roger serves as the unit flag for the USS Kidd (DDG-100)," adding that it is "specifically allowed by the memo."</p><div type="image" title="USS America" height="1500" width="1000" msid="78285699" hostid="261"></div><p>Other Navy vessels have also been known to fly nonstandard flags, such as the amphibious assault ship USS America, which was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-flattop-sails-the-pacific-with-captain-america-battle-flag-2020-3">spotted earlier this year flying a blue battle flag with the iconic Captain America shield on it</a>.</p>

A US Navy destroyer just sailed into port flying the Jolly Roger — here's why the USS Kidd flies a pirate flag

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a256fd9f914c355018b7afc-1000/yasen class russian submarine.png" border="0" alt="Yasen class Russian submarine" data-mce-source="Wikimedia Commons" data-mce-caption="The Russian Yasen-class nuclear attack submarine Severodvinsk" data-link="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Severodvinsk" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Severodvinsk">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Russian Yasen-class nuclear-attack submarine Severodvinsk</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Western officials are increasingly concerned about Russian sub activity.</strong></li><li><strong>Part of that concern is about Russian subs interfering with undersea cables that support telecommunications.</strong></li><li><strong>US sanctions announced Monday target Russian firms linked to undersea spying efforts.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p>Russia has been investing heavily in its submarine fleet over the past decade and a half, restocking its fleet with more sophisticated and more capable boats that are more active than at any time since the Cold War.</p><p>That activity has worried Western officials, who have particular concern for what those subs might be doing around the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-increased-naval-activity-threatening-undersea-cables-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">undersea cables that link</a> the US, Europe, and countries around the world, carrying 95% of communications and over $10 trillion in daily transactions.</p><p>Now the US government is targeting that undersea capability by putting sanctions on Russian firms and individuals that work with the country's powerful FSB, the security and intelligence agency <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/29/fact-sheet-actions-response-russian-malicious-cyber-activity-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanctioned in 2016</a> for interfering in the US election that year.</p><p><span>The US is pursuing "an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia's offensive cyber capabilities," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0410" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>. "The entities designated today have directly contributed to improving Russia's cyber and underwater capabilities through their work with the FSB."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a6b3aa91784252c008b4cbf-1295/screen shot 2018-01-26 at 142606.png" border="0" alt="Undersea cables map" data-mce-source="Telegeography" data-mce-caption="Europe's network of submerged cables in detail." /><p class="source"><span>Telegeography</span></p><p class="caption">Europe's network of submerged cables in detail.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The Treasury said the sanctions were in response to "malign and destabilizing cyber activities," like 2017's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-military-was-behind-notpetya-cyberattack-in-ukraine-cia-concludes/2018/01/12/048d8506-f7ca-11e7-b34a-b85626af34ef_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NotPetya</a> cyberattack and cyber intrusions of the US energy grid, which could allow future attacks.</span></p><p><span>Among the firms sanctioned on Monday was Divetechnoservices, which, since 2007, "has procured a variety of underwater equipment and diving systems for Russian government agencies, to include the FSB," the Treasury Department said.</span></p><p><span>"Further, in 2011, Divetechnoservices was awarded a contract to procure a submersible craft valued at $1.5 million for the FSB," according to the release.</span></p><h2><span>'The 21st-century, underwater equivalent'</span></h2><p><span>Undersea espionage is not new. In 1972, specially equipped US submarines tapped a Soviet communications line off Russia's Pacific coast <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/operation-ivy-bells-2013-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as part of Operation Ivy Bells</a>, which remained secret until information about it was leaked to the Soviets in the early 1980s.</span></p><p><span>One of the subs that took part, the now retired USS Parche, is the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-most-decorated-warship-sub-uss-parche-used-for-spy-missions-2018-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most decorated ship in the Navy</a>, though most of its missions remain secret. The Navy currently operates the USS Jimmy Carter, an advanced Seawolf-class sub that's believed to be <a href="http://cryptome.org/nsa-fibertap.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modified</a> to tap undersea cables.</span></p><p>"Just as the Russians have specialized submarines for this, we do too," Magnus Nordenman, the director the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said in an interview earlier this year, citing the Carter specifically. "And it's certainly something that we did during the Cold War too."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b217e6d1ae6621e008b4f79-1400/3754953.jpg" border="0" alt="US Navy submarine USS Jimmy Carter mast conning tower crew" data-mce-source="US Navy/Lt. Cmdr. Michael Smith" data-mce-caption="Cmdr. Melvin Smith, commanding officer of the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter, looks on as the submarine transits the Hood Canal on its way home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, September 11, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Lt. Cmdr. Michael Smith</span></p><p class="caption">Officers and crew on the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter looks on as the sub transits the Hood Canal on its way home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, September 11, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Russia's navy is smaller in numbers than its Cold War predecessor, but <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-submarine-warfare-increasing-focus-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its subs have grown more sophisticated</a>, departing from the previous approach of lots of ships of varying quality. "T<span>hey are taking a page from our playbook, which is go for quality instead," Nordenman said.</span></p><p><span>Those <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-submarine-activity-increasing-around-uk-and-in-north-atlantic-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increasingly active</a> subs - and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-losharik-sub-spooking-nato-2016-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their potential</a> for clandestine operations - have stoked new concern among Western naval officials.</span><span></span></p><p><span>In 2015, US officials said increased Russian undersea activity could have been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-increased-naval-activity-threatening-undersea-cables-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">efforts to locate those cables</a>. At the end of 2017, Stuart Peach, then chief of the British <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> staff, said the "vulnerability of the cables that criss-cross the seabeds" was "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-britain-says-west-must-defend-undersea-cables-from-russian-navy-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new risk to our way of life</a>."</span></p><p><span>US Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lennon, commander of NATO's subs forces, said in December that Russian underwater activity around those cables <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-increased-naval-activity-threatening-undersea-cables-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared to be unprecedented</a> and that Moscow "is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations' undersea infrastructure."</span></p><p><span>Growing reliance on telecommunications and the internet has made that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-extent-of-undersea-internet-cables-that-russians-could-cut-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sprawling cable network</a> more valuable, even as the cables themselves remain vulnerable to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/undersea-international-internet-cables-cut-in-africa-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sabotage</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ships-anchor-cuts-internet-cables-to-jersey-jt-2016-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accidents</a>.</span></p><p>"Intercepting and disrupting the opponent's communications has sort of been part of warfare since the beginning of time," Nordenman said earlier this year. "And this is the 21st-century, underwater equivalent."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/life-us-navy-submarine-military-training-armed-forces-2016-9">Everything you've ever wanted to know about life on a US Navy submarine</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7rZoegKy-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

The West is worried about Russian subs lurking around undersea cables, and the US is sanctioning companies helping them do it

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54c65ee86bb3f7c35e8b4567-1200-924/uss seawolf attack submarine sea trials 1997.jpg" border="0" alt="USS Seawolf attack submarine sea trials 1997"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">The US Navy's USS Seawolf (SSN 21) conducting sea trials in preparation for its scheduled commissioning on July 10, 1997.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>A new study says emerging submarine detection technologies, computer processing power and platforms such as underwater drones could quickly erode the US military's global undersea dominance and ability to operate in high-threat areas such as locations near enemy coastlines.</p><p>The US military relies upon submarines and undersea technological superiority for critical underwater intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions, which place assets near the surface fleet or coastline of a potential adversary.</p><p>In coming years, the technological margin of difference separating the US from potential rivals is expected to get much smaller, requiring the US the re-think the role of manned submarines and prioritize innovation in the realm of undersea warfare, according to a January report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments titled "The Emerging Era in Undersea Warfare."</p><p>"America's superiority in undersea warfare results from decades of research and development, operations, and training.</p><p>It is, however, far from assured. US submarines are the world's quietest, but new detection techniques are emerging that don't rely on the noise a submarine makes, and may make traditional manned submarine operations far more risky in the future.</p><p>America's competitors are likely pursuing these technologies even while expanding their own undersea forces," the report states.</p><p>Navy officials told Military?.com the service was doing all that it could to retain its undersea technological advantage.</p><p>The US has enjoyed an undersea technological advantage because it has quieter submarines that are more difficult to detect - combined with advanced sonar technology designed to find enemy submarines, the report's author told Military?.com</p><p>"At the end of WWII we did not have an undersea advantage. The Germans had developed submarines with snorkels and the US was searching for how they would deal with them. The new subs could avoid radar detection and were quiet when using their batteries.</p><p>Then, nuclear submarines came along. Passive sonar worked really well against them because they make noise continuously.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5405e8a3ecad04d67744e2ef-1200-800/14368345056_0b9742ccec_o.jpg" border="0" alt="nuclear submarine us navy"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/14368345056/in/set-72157625845549786">Flickr/US Navy</a></span></p><p class="caption">An electronics technician stands a roving security watch aboard the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS North Carolina.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Passive sonar works well against nuclear submarines and is less effective against diesels," said Bryan Clark, the study's author and senior fellow at CSBA.</p><p>Submarines are built to be quieter and less detectable through special engineering techniques which reduce the resonance of sound from the propeller and place insulation and sound-absorbing mounts in parts of the boat which radiate sound, Clark explained.</p><p>"This requires high-end manufacturing techniques. You engineer every component on the ship to be quiet and engineer them such that the noise does not reach the hull," he said.</p><p>In the report, Clark details some increasingly available technologies expected to change the equation regarding US undersea technological supremacy. They include increased use of lower frequency active sonar and non-acoustic methods of detecting submarine wakes at short ranges.</p><p>In particular, Clark cites a technique of bouncing laser light or light-emitting-diodes off of a submarine hull to detect its presence.</p><p>"The physics behind most of these alternative techniques has been known for decades, but was not exploited because computer processors were too slow to run the detailed models needed to see small changes in the environment caused by a quiet submarine.</p><p>Today, 'big dat'" processing enables advanced navies to run sophisticated oceanographic models in real time to exploit these detection techniques," Clark writes.</p><p>If US attack submarines, SSNs, or nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, SSBNs, equipped with the latest in quieting technology are unable to elude detection by potential adversaries - then strategists and planners might need to re-examine their roles and missions, the report suggests.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54aea31deab8eaba5ee90a16-594-423/ohio ballistic missile submarine uss ohio.jpg" border="0" alt="Ohio ballistic missile submarine USS Ohio"><p class="source"><span>Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">USS Ohio, a US guided missile submarine, is docked at a South Korean naval base on Feb. 26, 2008.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>"In the last 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in computer processing power and a miniaturization of computer processing.</p><p>It used to be that some of these technologies could not be used in real-time.</p><p>The ability to process and use information in real-time was not there. Processing power is now small enough and powerful enough to fit onto a platform," Clark told Military?.com</p><p>As a result, Clark foresees a much greater use of low-frequency active sonar detection, a technology which can successfully detect submarines at greater distances than most current systems.</p><p>"Most hull-mounted sonars are medium band transmitting 1,000 to 10,000 hertz (Hz), whereas low frequency active sonar is less than 1,000 Hz. At lower frequencies you get longer ranges. At high frequency you get good resolution.</p><p>At really high frequency you can get almost photographic like images," Clark explained. With longer range frequencies, sonar systems can have greater success searching multiple areas concurrently, he explained.</p><h3>Underwater Drones</h3><p>In addition, the report points out that unmanned underwater vehicles, or UUVs, will increasingly be used for "covert coastal surveillance and mining" previously reserved for manned submarines.</p><p>"Advances in battery and fuel cell technology are expected to enable non-nuclear submarines, UUVs and other undersea systems to operate for months submerged and power a growing number of sensors and other payloads.</p><p>For example, the newest Japanese Soryu-class submarines will use lithium-ion batteries instead of air-independent engines for power when submerged," Clark writes.</p><p>The same improvements that are making submarine detection easier will also likely enable a new generation of sophisticated counter-detection technologies and techniques, the report says.</p><p>"Against passive sonar, a submarine or UUV could emit sound to overcome its own radiated noise using a technique similar to that used in noise canceling headphones.</p><p>Against active sonars, undersea platforms could - by themselves or in concert with UUVs and stationary or floating systems - conduct acoustic jamming similar to that done by electronic warfare systems against radar," the report states.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52d02e1b6bb3f7f3781354a4-720-405/drone-still-thumbnail.jpg" border="0" alt="Underwater Drone Slocum"><p class="source"><span>Teledyne</span></p><p class="caption">The "Slocum Glider" is the result of a $56 million underwater drone project.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Clark also sees a rapidly increasing ability for UUVs and manned submarines to work in tandem.</p><p>For instance, he explains how the Navy's now-in-development Compact Very Lightweight Torpedo, or CVLWT, could be fired from UUVs as an offensive weapon.</p><p>The CVLWT is less than one-third of the size of the smallest torpedo currently operated by the Navy.</p><p>"Although the CVLWT has a short range, large UUVs could carry it as an offensive weapon and exploit their small size and signature to maneuver the torpedo close to a target," Clark added.</p><p>"Similarly, small UAVs such as the Navy's Experimental Fuel Cell UAV have relatively short endurance but can be launched by submarines or UUVs close to adversary coasts. They can take advantage of continued miniaturization in electro-optical, infrared and radar sensors to conduct surveillance or electronic warfare missions."</p><p>Undersea communication technology is rapidly changing as well, potentially allowing submarines to remain somewhat stealthy while communicating with other submarines and surface forces.</p><p>"Acoustic communications are increasingly able to operate over operationally relevant distances, while at shorter ranges LEDs and lasers could provide greater bandwidth. And new floating or towed radio transceivers enable submerged platforms to communicate with forces above the surface without risking detection," Clark writes.</p><p>Clark recommends the Navy consider the prospect of thinking about manned submarines as an undersea equivalent to aircraft carriers - meaning they could project power, provide support and send forth smaller UUVs for sensing and attack missions.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-naval-vessel-laser-weapon-test-video-2014-12">The US Just Used A Laser Weapon System On A Navy Ship For The First Time</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="kxYjk5cjrR0viaMAIyn9vsID4j3bOSkv" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'kxYjk5cjrR0viaMAIyn9vsID4j3bOSkv',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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