Ireland to Strengthen NATO Ties as Maritime Threats Increase
Ireland plans to boost radar and subsea surveillance capabilities and increase cooperation with NATO members amid growing hybrid threats in the North Atlantic, the country said in its first maritime security strategy on Wednesday.Ireland, which is neutral and has the EU's lowest level of defence spending, has been criticised for its lack of capability to monitor and defend territorial waters that the strategy says cover a "nexus of major transatlantic data cables and critical…
Italy Urges NATO to Step In as Greenland Tensions Escalate
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged NATO on Friday to develop "a coordinated presence" in the Arctic region to prevent tensions and respond to "interference by other actors", amid escalating tensions among Western allies over Greenland.In a letter read during the presentation of an Italian government paper on the Arctic, Meloni said the region was becoming increasingly important due to the development of new sea routes and its huge "energy and mineral resources".Italy…
UK Says NATO Talks on the Arctic “Business as Usual”
Britain said on Sunday discussions with other NATO members on deterring Russian activity in the Arctic were "business as usual", after media reports the UK was in talks with its European allies about deploying a military force to Greenland.The Telegraph reported on Saturday that military chiefs from Britain and other European countries were drawing up plans for a possible NATO mission in Greenland, which U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to acquire.The newspaper said British officials had begun early-stage talks with Germany…
NATO Chief Mocks “Broken” Russian Submarine
NATO chief Mark Rutte mocked Russia on Monday over the "limping" condition of one of its submarines as Russian authorities denied it had been forced to surface because of technical problems.Russia's Black Sea Fleet said the diesel-powered submarine Novorossiysk had surfaced off France to comply with navigation rules in the English Channel, and rejected reports it had suffered a serious malfunction.But Dutch authorities said at the weekend that the submarine was under tow in the North Sea.
Frigates Deployed by Dutch Navy For NATO Summit Security
The Dutch city of The Hague will host the NATO summit next week, with tight security in place as it welcomes around 6,000 delegates and world leaders from 32 countries, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.K.
NATO Bolsters Baltic Sea Ops in Wake of Cable Sabotage
NATO will boost its presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage this week of an undersea power cable and four internet lines, while alliance member Estonia launched a naval operation to guard a parallel electricity link. Finland on Thursday seized a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion the vessel had caused an outage of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable linking it with Estonia and fibre optic lines, and on Friday said it had asked NATO for support.Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for acts of sabotage after a string of outages of power cables…
French Carrier Joins NATO Drills as Russian Threat Looms
As Russia's war in the Ukraine drags on now into its third year, NATO today launched one of its biggest naval deployments since February 2022, with French aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle under the command of the alliance for the first time.The French nuclear-powered carrier began its mission in the Mediterranean Sea, close to its home port of Toulon. Placing the Charles de Gaulle under NATO operational control for the first time is highly symbolic, not least because the…
From Mines to AIS Spoofing, Assessing the Risks to Shipping in the Black Sea
Commercial ships are being advised of the high risk operating in the Black Sea following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, with various reports of missile attacks on commercial ship, plus warning of the waters containing mines.According to a press release from the NATO Shipping Center (NSC), there is a high risk of collateral damage on civilian shipping in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, citing several open source reports of civilian ships being hit directly or indirectly…