Russia acquired Western technology to protect its nuclear submarine fleet

Russia secretly used front companies to buy Western technology and erect a surveillance net in the Arctic where its submarines operate, an investigation shows.

Russia is protecting its nuclear submarine fleet in the Arctic with an undersea surveillance system built using high-tech equipment acquired from U.S. and European companies through a secret procurement network, according to newly uncovered financial records, court documents and Western security officials.

Disguising its role in transactions through layers of front companies, Russia was able to obtain sensitive sonar systems, an underwater drone capable of operating at depths up to 3,000 meters, sophisticated subsurface antennas and a fleet of ships that posed as commercial or research vessels while carrying out installation tasks for the Russian military, according to officials and documents.

All were integral to a secret, multiyear project to erect an invisible surveillance net across the Barents Sea and other frigid waters where Russian submarines operate carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles in case of nuclear conflict with the United States, according to German court records as well as U.S. and Western security officials and experts.

The surveillance system, called “Harmony,” relies on a constellation of seabed sensors to detect U.S. submarines entering Russian naval “bastions,” disrupting Western attempts to track or, if war broke out, destroy Russian submarines that exist to ensure Russia can launch a nuclear strike even if its land-based missile silos are disabled, according to naval experts.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/10/23/russia-nuclear-subs-western-technology-surevillance/