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Credit: ELTA Systems Ltd
Germany has deployed an underwater stealth drone named “Blue Whale” to patrol the Baltic Sea in its latest attempt to confront Russian and Chinese saboteurs.
As tensions rise over the cutting of undersea cables in the Baltic region, the German navy has test launched the autonomous submarine to carry out deep sea surveillance.
The drone, produced by the Israeli defence firm Elta, can also be used to detect and pursue suspicious vessels, and to spot mines.
According to Elta, the five-tonne Blue Whale can motor at 8mph, dive to nearly 300 metres and is able to function underwater for several weeks. It can, the manufacturer says, be used to “enhance naval operations with unprecedented levels of stealth and data fidelity”.
The complex design includes a “Synthetic Aperture Sonar” to capture high-resolution images of the seafloor and detect mines, and a “Flank Array Sonar” to detect other vessels.
To support special forces on reconnaissance missions, the drone is also equipped with “Loyal Submarine Wingman” communications technology and at 36ft long is said to be “easily transportable” in a 40-foot shipping container.
Jan Christian Kaack, the commander of the German navy, has said that drones such as Blue Whale will be used to confront “high-performance weapons from potential foes, including some which are extremely difficult to defend against”.
Germany, along with the Nordic and Baltic states, is increasingly concerned about hostile Russian and Chinese activity in the Baltic Sea region.
Last November, two underwater fibre optic cables running between Finland and Germany were cut, with suspicion falling on a Chinese vessel that was in the area at the time of the incident.
In a similar case in October 2023, a Chinese container ship damaged a key European gas pipeline, Balticconnector, leading to a surge in gas prices.
The Chinese government claimed the damage was accidentally caused by the captain dragging his anchor along the seabed, a claim which Estonia’s defence minister described at the time as “difficult to understand”.
Western officials suspect that in both cases the damage may have been caused deliberately by Chinese vessels on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been waging a so-called hybrid warfare campaign on Europe in retaliation for Western military support of Ukraine.
This involves targeting critical infrastructure, such as undersea cables, as well as factories and other assets on EU soil which are important to the war effort.
Russia is also suspected of plotting to assassinate the chief executive officer of Rheinmetall, the German arms firm which has been producing huge quantities of artillery ammunition for Ukrainian soldiers.
German police this week launched an investigation into suspicious drone activity over a military base in Manching, Bavaria, where German forces test aircraft. Bavarian officials said they were not ruling out the possibility that the drones were launched by Russian spies.
Last April, two German-Russian dual citizens were arrested in Bavaria on suspicion of a plot to sabotage a US military facility which supports Ukraine.
Spying for the Chinese government
Relations between Berlin and Beijing have also frayed over the arrest of three German citizens on charges of spying for the Chinese government. In a separate incident, an aide to an MEP for Germany’s far-Right Alternative for Germany party was arrested last April on suspicion of being a spy for Beijing.
According to Maritime Executive, an industry magazine, the German military carried out the test launches of the Blue Whale in December.
Germany and Israel are increasingly cooperating on security, particularly in the area of air defence. Israel is supplying Germany with its highly advanced Arrow 3 missile interception system.
“Underwater drones like the Blue Whale will allow the German navy to take a big step forward in monitoring the Baltic Sea and detecting submarines, without resorting to expensive manned systems,” Johannes Peters, an expert from Kiel University’s Institute for Security Policy, told Spiegel magazine.
