“The seabed is a new terrain of power relations that we must master in order to be ready to act, to defend ourselves and, if necessary, to take the initiative, or at least to fight back.“, underlines the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly. With an average depth of 3,800 meters, the seabed is still largely unknown. Only 20% of their surface is known with precision. But more and more countries are interested in it. I have to say that the abyss contains mineral resources such as nickel, copper, gold, silver, but also rare metals such as lithium, titanium present in our everyday objects.
The economic prospects offered by the exploitation of these resources located at the bottom of the oceans are voltage sources between States which seek to monopolize vast maritime spaces, beyond their exclusive economic zone, in the international zone of the seabed which has the status of “common heritage of humanity”. This is what is happening with China, and the maritime maneuvers deployed in the South China Sea. Tiny islands grouped into archipelagos are the subject of competing claims between neighboring nations who wish to be able to integrate them into their perimeter of sovereignty. The discovery of gigantic gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean is also the scene of tensions between Greece and Turkey.
Espionage and sabotage risks
We must also add submarine cables through which pass 99% of global communications. It is thanks to them that we can communicate. These “big garden hoses” in a way, allow us to connect to the internet, to telephone, to watch digital television, and also to make financial transactions. Under the sea, we total 450 cables, or 1.3 million kilometers of cable, is more than three times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. These highways buried under the sea, may be targeted by foreign countriestempted to monitor or degrade them.
– Ministry of the Armed Forces
Already in 2017, in France, in a report, the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security had raised the subject by affirming that these submarine cables could constitute “potential targets in the game of powers”. In France, the intelligence community speaks of a “hyper sensitive” and “primary importance” subject.
It is true that if one of its cables were sabotaged, the economic consequences would be disastrous. “We know that these submarine cables can also be the target of nations, tempted to monitor or degrade these sensitive underwater infrastructures located in the seabed.“, Florence Parly said earlier this week. The Russian military oceanographic vessel Yantar has been spotted several times in recent months off the coast of Ireland near transatlantic submarine telecommunications cables. And according to press reports Danish company, Washington would have used the Danish submarine cable network from 2012 to 2014 to listen to personalities from four countries (Germany, Sweden, Norway, France), including Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Have eyes and ears up to 6,000 meters deep
Faced with these challenges, France must be more present in controlling the seabed. While the average depth of the seabed is 3,800 meters, the equipment of the French armed forces today cannot go beyond 2,000 meters deep. To go lower, France is forced to call on foreign countries as it did in 2019 for the search launched to find the wreck of the French submarine Minerve, which disappeared 50 years ago off the Toulon coast. “It was necessary to call on a private American company, Ocean Infinity. They took 5 days. It was an electric shock“, explains the Ministry of the Armed Forces, noting that “the French means are not at the level of the existing means on the market and held by our competitors“.
Drones and underwater robots
This is the reason why the French army wants to be capable of descending to 6,000 meters deep by 2025. It will develop underwater robots. The craft will be connected by a cable to a ship on the surface. This umbilical cord will make it possible to operate a remote-controlled arm for example explore wreckage, repair faulty infrastructure, recover objects… It will be able to transmit images in real time.
– Navy
The French Navy will also be equipped with underwater drones which will also be able to navigate as close as possible to the seabed, up to 6,000 meters deep. These drones can measure, probe, detect, film, photograph very precisely the seabed. “Today, with the technical means of transporting energy, underwater drones, artificial intelligence, one can imagine that some aim to control the seabed and jeopardize the freedom of navigation.“, worries the Ministry of the Armed Forces, referring to the “Seabed Warfare”, or “war of the abyss”.
France has the 2nd largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, after the United States with more than 10.2 million km2.