NATO wants to protect undersea cables and pipelines. It will invest in a special robot.

According to Bloomberg, the first machine is already in use off the coast of Abu Dhabi, where it serves the oil and gas industry.

NATO recognizes the need to protect the seabed

The 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, the main route for Russian gas to Europe before the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine , exposed the vulnerability of Europe's seabed infrastructure. Other incidents have followed, highlighting the need for tools to inspect and repair underwater pipelines and cables.

“It’s a critical capability,” Ben Balmforth, a senior fellow at the NATO Innovation Fund, said in an interview, adding that “major NATO nations” are interested in testing the technology.

The robot's potential to repair ships at sea is of particular interest to allies looking to extend the lifespan of their navies, Balmforth added, calling the new technology a "breakthrough."

Robots seal underwater areas and create a "dry habitat"

Kongsberg Ferrotech robots seal off areas that need work and then expel seawater to create a so-called "dry habitat" where repairs and inspections can be carried out. This avoids the need for divers and can be done without interrupting production , reducing costs and emissions, Kongsberg Ferrotech CEO Christopher Carlsen said in an interview.

There are about 160,000 kilometers of subsea pipelines in the world, and daily leaks cause environmental damage and require expensive repairs, Carlsen said.

Kongsberg Ferrotech's main sponsor is Kongsberg Innovation, which in turn is owned by companies such as oil giant Equinor and defense company Kongsberg Gruppen. They recently completed a project with Equinor, Shell, and SINTEF focused on deep-sea metal-on-metal 3D printing.

The Chinese have built a tool for cutting undersea cables.

On March 22, the South China Morning Post published an article announcing the development of a new tool in China capable of cutting undersea cables . The device is capable of operating at great depths, making it a powerful tool capable of destabilizing the world's telecommunications infrastructure.

Developed by the China Ship Science and Technology Research Center (CSSRC) and its affiliated State Key Laboratory of Deep-Sea Manned Vehicles, the device is capable of cutting cables at depths of up to 4,000 meters. This capability is achieved thanks to its titanium alloy casing.