Threats to UK undersea cables highlight need for space-based resilience

Tudor Williams, Chief Technology Officer at Filtronic

Amid growing reports of foreign adversaries targeting UK subsea cables and critical undersea infrastructure, Filtronic is highlighting the urgent need for space-based connectivity to protect national security, economic stability, and critical digital services.

As an island nation, more than 90% of the UK’s current day-to-day internet traffic travels via undersea cables, underpinning everything from defence communications and financial markets to cloud services and government operations. 

However, incidents of damage, whether accidental or deliberate are rising, driven by increased geopolitical tension, greater undersea activity, and the strategic vulnerability of cable routes.

Filtronic warns that reliance on a single layer of infrastructure presents unacceptable risk, and that satellite connectivity is fast becoming a strategic necessity rather than a contingency.

Space: A Critical Layer of Redundancy

Space-based communications provide a physically diverse and resilient complement to subsea fibre, bypassing the ocean floor and maintaining connectivity when cables are disrupted. As a result, governments and operators are increasing investment in satellite infrastructure to enhance network redundancy, coverage, and resilience. Governments and operators are therefore accelerating investment in satellite infrastructure to:

• Provide redundancy for critical national and defence communications

• Ensure continuity during cyber-physical attacks or geopolitical crises

• Support rapid recovery and failover when undersea networks are disrupted

At the heart of this shift is advanced RF (radio frequency) technology, enabling secure, high-capacity, low-latency satellite links capable of supporting mission-critical applications.Filtronic designs and manufactures high-performance RF hardware for space and defence programmes, helping operators deliver high throughput, secure connectivity in contested and denied environments.

Tudor Williams, Chief Technology Officer at Filtronic, said: “The growing focus on subsea cable security reflects a hard truth: our most critical communications depend on infrastructure that is increasingly exposed. Space-based connectivity adds a vital layer of resilience. By combining satellite networks with high-frequency RF technology, governments and operators can maintain secure, high-capacity communications even when undersea systems are threatened or disrupted.”