News - Denmark to create surveillance systems, near underwater communications, for detecting intelligence activities

Several Danish universities and scientific institutes have embarked on the creation of underwater communication control systems and the detection of intelligence activities on the seabed, reports Danmarks Radio.  The recently established National Defence Technology Centre has for the first time allocated funds—2 million kroner (approx. $290 thousand) for these purposes. The project is led by the Department of Energy at Aalborg University in Esbjerg, and is being implemented by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Aarhus University, Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI), and FORCE Technology. "Denmark will depend more on marine energy. Therefore, it becomes more urgent to monitor the critically important underwater infrastructure to prevent sabotage and espionage," commented Simon Pedersen, head of the project, lecturer at the energy department of Aalborg University. According to experts, if Denmark had had an effective underwater monitoring system, the sabotage of the North Stream natural gas pipeline in September 2022 could have been prevented. "If there is no monitoring system, it is impossible to know what is happening and, therefore, to respond to possible threats," said Pedersen.