NATO's concerns about the Russian submarine fleet | the world

President Vladimir Putin has a large fleet of submarines at his disposal.

Russia has 70 submarines, half of which are nuclear submarines, and its fleet has the ability to launch nuclear ballistic missiles. But they also have smaller submarines that can wreak havoc on critical infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications cables and offshore wind farms.

This worries NATO.

– No country can overcome the fleet used by NATO, but under water the situation is completely different, says the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Navy, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo. Iltalehti.

According to Henrique Gouveia y Melo, NATO must find a way to respond to Russia's underwater capabilities.

He told the newspaper that these monsters possess huge quantities of cruise robots, nuclear weapons robots, and torpedoes that impede the movement of NATO’s surface fleet.

At the very least, they could stop traffic between the United States and Europe very effectively, Gouveia e Mello says.

NATO action

The newspaper also writes that Russian submarines are equipped with a layer that “absorbs sound waves.”

Even submarine machinery and equipment are surrounded by materials that dampen sound and shock, says Gouveia e Mello.

NATO chief Michael Stewart told the newspaper that there is now a race to develop technology to track submarines. NATO discusses, among other things, a “digital ocean,” a “digital sea” in which the Alliance’s maritime information is enhanced with the help of new technology that extends from the seabed into space.

“The Baltic Sea countries can come together in the spirit of 'digital oceans' and use each nation's best unmanned capabilities and share the data they collect,” says Stewart.