Seabed warfare is defined as "operations to, from and across the ocean floor".[1]
In general the target of seabed warfare is infrastructure in place on the seabed such as power cables, telecom cables, or natural resource extraction systems.[2][3] Seabed warfare capabilities are expensive and because of that significant capabilities are only possessed by major powers.[4]
Conflicts on the seabed can be both conventional and unconventional, the latter encompassing non-kinetic approaches such aslawfare.[5]
France has integrated seabed warfare into their military strategy with the concept of Seabed Control Operations which involves expanding their existing mine warfare and hydro-oceanography capabilities to deal with a more comprehensive spectrum of threats.[6]
In December 2023, it was reported that six northern European countries would establish a Seabed Security Experimentation Center, which would help develop new techniques, to better protect their key undersea infrastructure against threats.[7] That same month it was also announced that the Netherlands would invest up to 250 million euros on measures to protect its cables and pipelines in theNorth Sea against sabotage and espionage.[8]
