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Seas and Oceans: Infrastructure

Answer

The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) remains a key element of His Majesty’s Government’s approach to enhancing security and resilience across the North Atlantic and North Sea regions. The JEF, comprising the United Kingdom and nine like-minded Northern European nations, is designed to respond rapidly to a range of contingencies, including the protection of critical infrastructure such as undersea cables and pipelines, complementary to NATO.

Securing the safe operation of undersea cables and pipelines is a priority given their vital role in national security, economic stability, and communications. The Ministry of Defence, in close coordination with the JEF partner nations, is developing and refining operational concepts that include maritime domain awareness, intelligence sharing, and rapid deployment capabilities to deter and respond to threats against these assets.

In January 2025, following reported damage to a major undersea cable in the Baltic Sea, the JEF activated an advanced UK-led reaction system, known as Nordic Warden, to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the Russian shadow fleet. This was subsequently handed over to NATO under their Baltic Sentry initiative.

The Government remains committed to enhancing the JEF’s capabilities to meet emerging challenges in its area of interest, including the protection of undersea infrastructure in the Atlantic and North Sea.

In summary, while the JEF is not solely dedicated to undersea cable and pipeline security, it forms a component of the UK’s broader strategy to safeguard these essential assets through multinational cooperation, rapid response, and integrated maritime security operations in support of NATO.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL16357

Session

2024-26

Subjects

Electric cables Pipelines Atlantic Ocean North Sea Seas and oceans Telecommunications cables Joint Expeditionary Force

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk