Russian sensors found off U.K. coast may have tracked nuclear submarines — Sunday Times
The British military has discovered sensors in waters near the United Kingdom that may have been used by Russia to monitor the country’s nuclear submarines, the Sunday Times reported, citing former defense officials, senior military personnel, and military experts. The outlet said the devices were recovered “in recent years.”
According to the U.K. Defense Ministry, the sensors were likely installed by Moscow to track the movements of Britain’s four Vanguard submarines, which are armed with nuclear warheads.
Two sources told the Sunday Times that around 2020, Russian underwater drones were detected near “sensitive” undersea cables. No ships or submarines were observed nearby, suggesting the drones had traveled long distances to reach the area. The Ministry believes the drones were trying to hack the cables, though there’s no evidence they succeeded.
Three sources in the Defense Ministry also told the outlet that even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, British intelligence suspected that the superyachts of Russian oligarchs were being used to conduct underwater reconnaissance off the U.K. coast.
Senior military officials compared the growing underwater technological rivalry to the Cold War–era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
