Phibi Sophia

Who supplies internet under the sea? World’s longest underwater cables

This week’s uproar about the damage to the C-Lion1 cable in the Baltic Sea has become, among other things, a reminder to people that much of the communication traffic in the world is routed through underwater cables.

While the 1,172km C-Lion1 is certainly a lengthy piece of infrastructure, it is by no means the longest underwater telecommunication cable out there.

Here are a few examples for comparison:

1️⃣2Africa is an underwater telecommunications cable currently under construction, running from Europe to the Middle East and circumnavigating the coast of Africa. Scheduled for completion by the end of 2024, it will span 45,000 kilometers.

2️⃣South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 (SEA-ME-WE3) is currently considered the longest underwater telecommunications cable in the world so far. With its length totaling 39,000 kilometers, SEA-ME-WE3 runs from the coast of Germany all the way to Australia, Japan and South Korea across the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

3️⃣The 28,000 kilometer-long Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) follows practically the same route as SEA-ME-WE3 albeit with fewer stops along the way. It runs from the coast of the UK to Japan but, unlike the previous example, has no extension to Australia.

4️⃣Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) is a 25,000 kilometer-long cable that links Europe with Southeast Asia via the Middle East.

5️⃣The Southern Cross Cable is an underwater communications cable that connects the US with Australia and New Zealand. It is 28,900 kilometers long.

6️⃣South Atlantic 3/West Africa (SAT-3/WASC) is an undersea cable that runs from Portugal to South Africa along the West African coast. It is 13,000 kilometers long.

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Russian air defenses’ reputation as ‘ATACMS killers’ may stoke soaring demand

Success in Russia's efforts to intercept US-made ATACMS missiles, including the latest attempt by Ukraine and its NATO handlers to attack the Bryansk region, may lead to an increase in demand for its air defense systems in the world, says Russian military expert and air defense forces historian Yuri Knutov.

He points out that many countries in the world lack systems such as S-300V4, S-350 Vityaz, S-400, Buk-M3 or Pantsir, “the systems that can successfully counter ATACMS missiles specifically.”

“We have proven that Russia possesses the best air defense in the world, which is why, in my opinion, the interest in our air defenses grows so much,” he explains.

Though the demand for Russian air defense systems in the world is hindered by Western sanctions, Knutov also predicts that, if the Ukrainian conflict were to wind down, “the demand for our air defense systems would increase manifold.”

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The sabotage of the underwater internet cables coincided with the NATO naval exercise Freezing Winds 24

The exercise is held in southern Finland and in the Northern Baltic Sea from November 18 to 29.

The cable between Finland and Germany runs along the same route as Nord Stream. The distance between them is several hundred meters.

Shortly before the Nord Stream explosions in the Baltic Sea, NATO also held exercises — Baltops 2022.

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