Norway's Undersea Revolution: How Arctic Innovation is Redefining Maritime Security

Norway doesn’t just patrol the sea; it understands the depths. As hybrid threats to subsea infrastructure intensify, from suspected Russian sabotage of Baltic Sea cables in November 2024 to covert reconnaissance in the Arctic, Norway has quietly built one of the world’s most advanced undersea defence ecosystems. With a defence budget of £7.8 billion (NOK 110 billion) in 2025, and a pledge to raise spending on defence and broader security to around 5% of GDP by the mid-2030s under the Norwegian Defence Pledge, the country shows what focused investment, Arctic-tested engineering, and consistent innovation can achieve in the harshest environment on Earth. This isn’t theory. Norway’s systems are already operational, scalable, and shaping NATO’s approach to maritime resilience, especially on the Alliance’s northern flank. Exercises such as Joint Viking 2025, which brought together around 7,000–10,000 troops from nine NATO nations, including the US, the UK, and Finland, underscore this growing influence amid rising concerns over Russian hybrid activities in the region. Here’s how Norway is getting undersea defence right, with updates through November 2025. 

1. HUGIN Superior – Setting the Standard for Deep-Sea Autonomy 

System: Kongsberg’s HUGIN Superior is a 6.6 m AUV rated to 3,000 m (with variants extending to 6,000 m), offering endurance of 72+ hours and real-time synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). It carries a fixed payload suite that includes the HISAS 1032 dual receiver for high-resolution SAS, an EM2040 Mk2 multibeam echosounder, camera, laser profiler, sub-bottom profiler, magnetometer, and environmental sensors for methane, CO2, and oxygen. The HUGIN family has a proven record in deep-water surveys, operating down to 4,500 m in commercial roles. In February 2025, the HUGIN Superior completed acceptance testing for the US Navy through the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in Norway, marking a milestone for export and dual-use collaboration. This validation by the US Navy highlights Norway’s position as a technology leader in the undersea domain and a trusted ally in building interoperable systems for high-stakes operations. Its mission profiles include shore-to-shore transit and multi-week autonomous operations. The HUGIN Endurance variant, an extended-range model, completed a multi-week autonomous mission in September 2024, covering depths from 50 to 3,400 m without human intervention. This demonstrated the endurance and reliability needed for continuous operations in complex environments, reducing dependence on manned platforms while expanding coverage for cable monitoring and seabed anomaly detection. 

Why it matters: 

• Arctic-grade navigation – Equipped with autonomous pipeline tracking, terrain navigation, and single-beacon underwater transponder protocols, achieving real-time accuracy better than 0.04% of distance travelled in GPS-denied environments. 

• Onboard AI processing – Identifies and geolocates threats without surfacing, with enhanced data quality and 30% greater energy density for extended missions. • Swarm coordination – Demonstrated coordinated swarm operations in exercises such as REPMUS 2025, clearing extensive simulated minefields in under six hours. Recent US Navy tests in 2025 confirmed multirole capabilities in reconnaissance, evaluation, assessment (REA), and mine countermeasures (MCM). 

Impact: Norway now conducts persistent, silent undersea surveillance across the High North and shares that data with allies. As hybrid threats escalate, including disruptions to cables in the Baltic and Arctic, HUGIN’s role in rapid threat detection is critical, enabling expanded ISR with fewer resources and greater resilience against sabotage. 

2. Oslofjord CMI Test Bed – Turning Fjords into Living Labs 

Launched in July 2025 by KONGSBERG in Horten, the Oslofjord Critical Maritime Infrastructure (CMI) Protection Test Bed is the world’s first live subsea innovation hub dedicated to protecting pipelines, power cables, and ports. It connects AUVs, AI sensor buoys, and robotic interceptors to simulate real threats, creating a global centre for testing integrated defence solutions. This facility brings real-world environmental challenges into testing, allowing technologies to be trialled in conditions that mirror Arctic realities, such as strong currents and cluttered seabeds. It supports dual-use applications, leveraging Norway’s offshore energy expertise to push innovation in defence. 

Highlights: • AI-driven sensor fusion combining sonar, acoustics, and satellite data with 98% accuracy in cluttered environments. • Autonomous response: AUVs automatically deploy to investigate anomalies, distinguishing marine life from genuine threats with full inspection workflows from detection to data return. • Open architecture: New AI models can be tested and integrated within weeks, aligning with Norway’s Total Preparedness strategy and EU maritime security objectives. Impact: Norway has turned its fjords into a live R&D engine – innovation tested against real conditions, not simulations. Amid rising security demands in 2025, the facility tackles vulnerabilities highlighted in NATO warnings about undersea threats, accelerating the path from concept to field deployment. 

3. Type 212CD – The World’s Quietest Conventional Submarine 

Built jointly with Germany under ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the Type 212CD programme (six boats for Norway, delivery from 2029 with follow-ons into the 2030s) introduces a larger, diamond-shaped hull for reduced signature and improved stealth. The 73-metre, 2,500-tonne platform builds on the 212A design with significant Norwegian contributions. Replacing the Ula-class submarines, the 212CD features air-independent propulsion (AIP) via hydrogen fuel cells, an enhanced ORCCA combat system from Kongsberg and Atlas Elektronik for enhanced data handling and interoperability with allied systems, and a shared maintenance facility for up to nine boats with Germany. In October 2025, both countries invited Canada to consider joining the programme, potentially expanding it to support Canada’s planned fleet of twelve new submarines. 

Norwegian advances include: 

• Hydrogen fuel cells adapted from offshore wind systems for Arctic endurance. • AI-enhanced flank sonar with Kongsberg signal processing. 

• AUV launch bays for submerged HUGIN deployment. 

• AI-guided counter-drone jammers. 

Performance: 

• 10 dB quieter than any current non-nuclear submarine thanks to the diamond hull. 

• Over three weeks submerged endurance – the longest AIP runtime globally, powered by diesel and hydrogen fuel cells. 

Impact: Norway’s next-generation fleet will redefine stealth and persistence under the sea. Operating across littoral, fjord, and High North theatres, these submarines add a crucial deterrent and monitoring layer for seabed infrastructure, reinforcing NATO’s northern resilience amid increased Russian activity. 

4. SMAUG – The AI Guardian of Ports and Cables 

Launched in February 2025 under the EU Horizon Europe programme, the SMAUG (Smart Maritime and Underwater Guardian) Project is led by Indra with partners including the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and Maritime Robotics. With €6 million in funding, SMAUG integrates micro-AUVs, AI sensor buoys, hydrophones, high-resolution sonar, and drone swarms to detect divers, mini-subs, and hybrid drones near ports and cable landings. The project combines acoustic and visual sensing, utilising cooperative AUV swarms to identify and track illegal or harmful activities approaching EU coasts and ports. One of the main pilots, in Drammen, Norway, has already validated these systems in live port conditions. 

Key advances: 

• Acoustic machine-learning trained on Norway’s fjord noise profiles. 

• Micro-AUVs capable of shadowing and recording targets autonomously. 

• 95% detection success in high-traffic environments, integrating tethered drone surveillance for continuous coverage. At UDT Oslo 2025, SMAUG detected and tracked a simulated spy submarine in real time, guiding a robotic interceptor within two metres of the target. USN students tested related underwater technologies in April 2025, demonstrating the connection between education and innovation. 

Impact: Norway is building the first fully autonomous port-defence network – a model for protecting subsea infrastructure as hybrid attacks on cables increase in the Baltic and Arctic. It bridges the gap between large-scale systems and distributed robotic networks for persistent protection. 

5. Eelume and Kongsberg Ferrotech – The Future of Robotic Repair 

Innovation beneath the waves in Norway extends well beyond defence. Two firms, Eelume and Kongsberg Ferrotech, are redefining subsea inspection and repair – vital for cable and pipeline resilience in contested environments. Eelume’s M-Series, developed with Kongsberg Maritime and NTNU, is a modular, snake-like AUV (250–600 cm long, 20 cm diameter, 70–180 kg) rated to 500 m, with 1–8 hours AUV endurance or unlimited as ROV. Its flexible body allows resident deployment for inspection, maintenance, and light intervention in confined spaces. Fitted with modular tools, such as torque drivers for valve operations, it is already in service with Equinor, reducing costs and emissions by up to 90% by eliminating the need for manned missions. This modular approach supports the ‘resident sentinel’ concept – continuous undersea presence and rapid response for critical assets – bridging civil and defence applications. Kongsberg Ferrotech’s Nautilus system, backed by NATO and the European Innovation Council, provides the world’s first dry underwater repair capability using 3D-printed composite patches inside a robotic habitat. With €12M in new funding in July 2025, Ferrotech has advanced underwater 3D printing research. In October, ADNOC deployed the Nautilus MK2 for live subsea pipeline repair, verified by ultrasonic and TOFD scans. Together, these platforms blend commercial innovation with defence potential, evolving from energy-sector tools into dual-use technologies that secure subsea networks. 

6. Svalbard Undersea Cable System – Highlighting Vulnerabilities and the Need for Resilience 

The Svalbard Undersea Cable System illustrates the strategic importance of Norway’s undersea network. Connecting the remote Svalbard archipelago to mainland Norway, this dual-fibre optic system has been operational since 2004, providing essential communications for research and satellite operations. In January 2022, one cable was unexpectedly severed, disrupting services and raising concerns about sabotage during heightened geopolitical tension. Repairs, completed in 2024 for €5.6 million, underscored the continued exposure of these assets. As of 2025, analysts continue to link such incidents to wider hybrid threats, including possible Russian activity in the High North. This event demonstrates why capabilities like HUGIN for monitoring and Eelume for repair are crucial. It encapsulates the ‘asset–threat–capability–allied relevance’ model, showing how real-world vulnerabilities drive Norwegian innovation. 

The Norwegian Undersea Model: 

Why It Works Norway’s success lies in its integrated civil–military approach. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) continues its digitisation programme with KONGSBERG Sounder USVs and AUVs, building on contracts first signed in 2021, to map more than 25,000 km of coastline for environmental and security purposes. This dual-use data supports resilience at both national and allied levels.

Norway’s ‘secret sauce’: 

• A tripartite model – FFI + Kongsberg + SMEs delivering rapid, trusted innovation. • NOK 342M (£24M) in 2025 allocated to defence SMEs, including undersea technology start-ups, through Innovation Norway. 

• Focused NATO collaboration, including Secretary General Mark Rutte’s May 2025 visit and the Type 212CD pitch to Canada. 

A Quiet Revolution 

Norway proves that geography can drive innovation. The nation that mastered offshore oil in the 1970s is now mastering undersea defence in the 2020s, as hybrid threats intensify across NATO’s northern flank. 

No noise. No waste. Just results. From AI swarms mapping the seabed in silence to robotic guardians protecting every cable and pipeline, Norway has built an undersea architecture that is resilient, intelligent, and ready for what comes next. As global reports warn of growing risks to maritime infrastructure – from environmental disruption to deliberate sabotage – Norway’s model offers a path forward, blending defence, research, and allied collaboration. The world is learning. Norway is already leading. 

--- Based on open-source materials available as of November 2025; all views are the author’s own.  C. Faraday | Undersea Infrastructure Research 2025

Norway Article 2.docx

Download DOCX • 35KB