European Security and Defense: Scalable Anti-Submarine Warfare

Key Chapter Title List

1. Scalable Anti-Submarine Warfare
2. Red skies over paradise
3. Anti-submarine warfare: A scalable approach
4. Turning the tide: NATO, national, and multinational efforts build Baltic CUI security
5. Growing affordable mass in the underwater battlespace
6. From lab to ship: Portuguese Navy charts course towards integrated MUS operations
7. Uncertain future: The deep crisis of Poland’s submarine force
8. Canada’s submarines: Bridging the gap
9. Developments in infantry night vision systems
10. Mass precision strike: The best of both worlds
11. Movement is life
12. Bridging: Keeping up with rising MLC

Document Introduction

This report, based on the March 2025 issue of *European Security & Defence (ESD)* magazine, provides an in-depth analysis of the core security challenges facing Europe and its response strategies against the backdrop of current geopolitical upheavals, particularly the strategic shift of the United States. Taking "Scalable Anti-Submarine Warfare" as its central entry point, the report systematically explores multi-dimensional issues ranging from technological innovation and alliance collaboration to defense industry transformation, offering an authoritative and cutting-edge perspective for understanding the evolution of Europe's security architecture.

The report begins by focusing on the fundamental shift in Europe's security environment following the inauguration of the US Trump administration. The article "Red skies over paradise" points out that the potential wavering of the US commitment to NATO's collective defense has forced European nations, especially non-nuclear states, to re-examine their security foundations. This includes exploring alternatives independent of the US nuclear umbrella and has even sparked discussions in countries like Germany about reconsidering their non-proliferation stance. This strategic context sets an urgent tone for all subsequent tactical and technical analyses.

Against this backdrop, the report's core technical analysis section, "Scalable Anti-Submarine Warfare," proposes a new, resource-efficient paradigm. Faced with the increasingly large and acoustically advanced submarine fleets of China and Russia, traditional anti-submarine warfare models struggle to scale. The report advocates for more proactive detection mechanisms, including the use of unmanned surface vessels and underwater vehicles to build multi-static sonar networks, and the enhancement of signals intelligence collection, particularly against cruise missile submarines reliant on external communications. Furthermore, the report emphasizes integrating civilian sector resources (such as underwater unmanned vehicle data from the oil and gas industry) and employing suppressive measures (like deploying decoy sonobuoys and smart mines) as cost-effective supplementary solutions. The core idea is to offset the adversary's numerical and acoustic advantages through networked, distributed, and "whole-of-government, whole-of-society" synergy.

The protection of critical underwater infrastructure is another key focus of the report. Addressing a series of subsea cable and pipeline sabotage incidents in the Baltic Sea between 2022 and 2024, the report details NATO's response measures. These include launching the "Baltic Sentinel" operation, integrating standing naval formations for deterrent patrols and surveillance. Simultaneously, the report introduces multinational initiatives such as the "Nordic Watchkeeper" AI monitoring system and the Subsea Security Experimentation Centre, showcasing NATO and its member states' integrated strategy of combining military presence, commercial data, and advanced technology to address "grey zone" challenges.

The report also covers a wide range of military capability development trends. On the equipment and technology front, it provides detailed analyses of the rapid development path of BAE Systems' "Herne" Extra-Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, the Portuguese Navy's leading experiments in integrating maritime unmanned systems operations, and the latest procurement and upgrade plans of multiple NATO nations concerning infantry night vision systems, long-range rocket artillery/missiles, assault rifles, special forces equipment, and mobile communication networks. On the force assessment front, the report examines the capability crisis and future uncertainty of Poland's submarine force, as well as Canada's long-term planning, through the "Canadian Patrol Submarine Project" and the modernization of its in-service fleet, aimed at maintaining and expanding its three-ocean underwater surveillance and deterrence capabilities.

In summary, this report is not merely a technical equipment overview. It is a comprehensive assessment that profoundly reflects how Europe, in an era of rising strategic autonomy demands and the return of traditional security threats, is reshaping its defensive posture through technological innovation, alliance restructuring, and conceptual renewal. It provides professional readers with first-hand, cross-domain, in-depth intelligence and analysis on European defense transformation.