Russian Navy to Lay Fiber Optic Cables to Connect Arctic and Far East.

The Russian Defense Ministry began preparations to lay a transarctic communications line for the Navy and coastal troops. The fiber-optic cable will connect the Arctic and the Far East. It will begin in Severomorsk and go via Anadyr and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Vladivostok. The new line will transmit major volumes of information real-time. Experts believe the transarctic line will increase the national defense capability, the Izvestia daily writes.

Artist impression of Project 15310 ocean-going cable ship of the Russian Navy. The ice-class Volga and Vyatka cable-laying ships will be engaged in underwater work. Their construction is being completed by Zaliv shipyard in Kerch. The Volga is likely to be commissioned in 2019 and the Vyatka a year later. Picture by Curious via forums.airbase.ru

The Defense Ministry told the newspaper the new fiber-optic line would expand the possibilities of operational Navy command. The structural scheme of the underwater system has been designed and preparatory work began early this year.

Wired telecommunications are undeveloped in the Arctic at present and the transarctic cable will remedy the situation. It will go through the zone of responsibility of two fleets - the Northern and Pacific which are in charge of the longest maritime borders of the country.

The 12.7 thousand kilometer-long line is conditionally divided into two sections - the Arctic and the Far Eastern. The first one is close to 5.7 thousand kilometers and the second one is 7 thousand km long. There will be several types of the line sections: without relays, with underwater relay and with laser pumping to increase the light stream. The technology would depend on the relief and hydrogeological situation. Resistance to very cold temperatures is an obligatory requirement to the hardware and optic fiber. The talk is about the creation of a broad telecom network on the coast and islands of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. It will connect all military facilities and naval bases in hard-of-access areas. The trunk line is to be commissioned in 2025.

The Northern fleet will create an experimental area to test the technologies of connecting the coast and the islands. The transarctic cable will considerably increase the national defense capability, expert Dmitry Boltenkov said. "It would be possible to monitor the situation from Norway to China in real time. If stationary hydro-acoustic complexes to survey the underwater situation are plugged into it, the objects found in the Arctic Ocean will be immediately reported to Vladivostok, Severomorsk and Moscow. The telecom system will increase the efficiency of ground forces and fleet command," he said.

The ice-class Volga and Vyatka cable-laying ships will be engaged in underwater work. Their construction is being completed by Zaliv shipyard in Kerch. The Volga is likely to be commissioned in 2019 and the Vyatka a year later.

The ships will be equipped with a plough to lay the cable and an underwater craft to maintain and service the line. They will be able to lay the communications line at a depth of 3 thousand meters at a speed of two knots (3.7 km/h). They will also service the system, as their equipment can quickly find the place of damage and, if necessary, surface the cable or equipment for repairs or urgent replacement, the Izvestia writes.

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