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The CEO of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri said Europe needs to boost its subsea defenses amid intensifying threats and weakening US security guarantees.
“The Mediterranean has always been populated by Russian and US submarines, it’s up to us Europeans now to take responsibility for our underwater defence,” Folgiero told the Financial Times in an interview published Tuesday.
“If European countries are going to spend more on defence, we should spend better,” he added.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European military and political leaders have repeatedly accused Russia of sabotaging subsea cables that carry vital internet data and energy.
European militaries have scaled up their protection, with a specialist NATO unit launched in January increasing the surveillance and patrols of the vital infrastructure.
European defense firms are also boosting the development of technology to help underwater defenses.
Fincantieri, Europe’s largest shipbuilder, announced last week that it expects its underwater division, which makes submarines, underwater drones, and other technology, to double in size over the next few years, to account for 8% of group revenue by 2027, and bring in the equivalent of $930 million.
When announcing its new subsea-focused strategy, the company said it would be partnering with Italy’s Graal Tech to develop new subsea drone technology.
Folgiero told the FT that Europe faces a range of subsea threats, and that it’s boosting production to meet them.
“Attention has focused on the Baltic Sea following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine,” he said. “But the Mediterranean is twice as big as the Baltic and a crucial juncture from a geopolitical perspective.”
“This is why we are betting on underwater defence and technology and increasing our industrial capabilities,” Folgiero added.
Meanwhile, earlier this month German defense firm Helsing said it was working with the UK’s Royal Navy to deploy new subsea drones to better monitor subsea infrastructure.
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