Introduction
The seabed is in constant transition from being a sanctuary of silence to a kinetic domain. This transition marks what one might call the most significant shift in naval warfare since the introduction of the Nuclear Submarine. In the last few years, the world has witnessed a series of unattributed maritime incidents. These have served as a blueprint for potential future conflicts in times to come. One best example would be of the severing of the C-Lion1 and BCS East-West submarine telecommunication cable interlink in the Baltic Sea. It was not merely a logistical hiccup. It, in turn, was a meticulously calibrated demonstration of “Denial of Connectivity.” In such instances, the commercial vessels that act as state proxies utilise drag – anchor tactics to physically snap fibre-optic cables. This provides perfect plausible deniability because it mimics common maritime accidents. However, the synchronised nature of these breaks highlights a sophisticated intelligence operation that is designed to test the rapid repair capabilities as well as the political resolve of targeted nations. An adversary does not necessarily need to destroy the undersea communication cable in order to achieve a strategic effect, they only need to create good enough interference or noise that would degrade the quality of data transmission. This would force a shift to slower and more expensive satellite backups, thus, creating a bottleneck in global communications. It slows down the reaction time of critical military command structures. India sits at the centre of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Hence, these developments can be considered as critical warning signals.
