- China successfully tested new underwater cable cutting vessel
- The vessel uses a self-contained electro-hydrostatic actuator
- Although designed for civilian purposes, the ship has military applications
China has successfully completed the first test of a new ocean-going vessel capable of cutting underwater cables at a depth of 3,500 meters (11,483 feet).
A report of SCMP claims that the new research vessel “Haiyang Dizhi 2” has reportedly completed sea trials of a new “deep-sea electro-hydrostatic actuator”.
The test “broke the ‘last mile’ from deep-sea equipment development to technical application,” the official China Science Daily reported.
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Deep sea cable cutter can slice through steel
Rather than relying on a connection with a surface vessel to provide the external oil piping used by the hydraulic mechanisms, the deep water electro-hydrostatic actuator is a self-contained unit that houses the hydraulic system, electric motor and controls.
The ship is touted as being designed for deep-sea engineering purposes. But like many technologies designed for civilian applications, the ship also has the potential to be used to sabotage the undersea cables of countries China considers hostile, such as the United States.
Submarine cables are the arteries of modern digital life, carrying more than 95% of all international internet traffic – and with it much of the data our businesses and economies depend on. They are typically buried just beneath the seafloor, at a depth of about 2,000 meters (6,561 feet), but can be laid deeper, especially over large areas of ocean.
Most submarine cables use a protective sheath made of layers of steel, rubber and polymer, designed to provide protection not only from crushing pressures on the ocean floor, but also from ship anchors, bottom trawlers and underwater vessels such as these.
This is not the first deep-sea cable cutter revealed by China. The China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) and the State Key Laboratory of Deep-sea Manned Vehicles have also developed a vessel that uses a diamond grinding wheel to cut underwater cables at depths of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet).
Undersea cables have become lucrative targets for espionage and disruption. At the end of 2024, two submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged, with Finnish authorities seizing a ship believed to belong to the Russian “ghost fleet” as responsible. The British government recently revealed that Russia had launched underwater sabotage ships into British waters in a bid to target undersea cables in the North Sea.
Plans to lay cables in the Red Sea under projects such as Meta’s 2Africa Pearls project have been delayed or canceled due to hostilities between the United States and Iran.
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