NATO is deploying sea drones to help monitor and defend subsea cables in the Baltic amid the escalating threat of Russian sabotage.
Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of the alliance, mentioned the new tech at a recent panel.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Rutte said NATO had launched a mission in the Baltic Sea "to fight off the Russians who are getting at our critical undersea infrastructure."
"We are using sea drone technology there, next to the more traditional technology with ships, etc and aircraft," he said.
His remarks follow NATO's announcement on January 14 of its Baltic Sentry mission, using ships, aircraft, submarine satellites, and naval drones to surveil and defend the cables.
Running for thousands of miles under the sea, the cables transmit energy and data crucial for a global internet. But they're difficult to monitor and protect and are vulnerable to attack.
Drones are uncrewed vessels that can be deployed for a range of functions, including surveillance. The use of sea drones is still relatively new.
French Adm. Pierre Vandier, a senior NATO commander, told The War Zone that Baltic Sentry was the first time using drones in that way.
He also clarified that the drones were surface drones, rather than undersea ones.
The mission would "give a persistent, 24-7 surveillance of critical areas," he told the outlet.
In recent months, European officials have blamed Russia for a series of mysterious cable severances around the Baltic.
Analysts told Business Insider that Russia appears to be using aging tankers to sever the cables by dragging their anchors, giving the appearance of plausible deniability. In December, Finnish officials detained a tanker it accused of severing a cable near Estonia and said the vessel was part of a "shadow fleet" Russia uses to dodge sanctions.
Russia has denied any involvement in cable sabotage.
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