Defending Global Order Against China’s Maritime Insurgency – Part 1

March 25, 2026 Guest Author 1 Comment

By Dan White and Hunter Stires

The international order has come under immense strain in recent years. Major wars have erupted between the great powers in Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.S.’s top geopolitical rivals have increasingly coalesced, with China and Russia both rapidly modernizing and expanding their arsenals of strategic weapons. Meanwhile, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan looms, possibly backed by Moscow. The current challenges make China’s years-old claims to the entirety of the South China Sea seem quaint and insignificant in comparison.

Hunter Stires, who served as the Maritime Strategist to the Secretary of the Navy during the tenure of Secretary Carlos Del Toro, views each of these challenges as interconnected parts of a global struggle for the Freedom of the Sea and the international order, with the central front in the South China Sea. Stires believes the future of global order rests on the extent to which China succeeds in claiming ownership to one of the world’s most important waterways and disrupting the centuries-old concept of the freedom of the seas upon which the modern global order was founded. Stires helped found the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Counterinsurgency (COIN) Project to better conceptualize and combat China’s battle to overturn the international order at sea. This interview captures Stires’ thoughts on the history of the Maritime COIN project and its ongoing relevance for intensifying strategic competition between the US and China.

Dan White: When most Americans think about China’s naval activities or aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, the predominant topic of discussion is challenging U.S. regional dominance and laying the groundwork for the invasion of Taiwan. You started the Maritime Counterinsurgency Project because you believe China’s actions in its near seas have much broader implications. Can you summarize what you believe is at stake and why Americans who may be skeptical of commitments to regional security in Asia should be concerned about China’s behavior, particularly in some of its more low-level aggressive behavior that it has exhibited towards our allies in the Philippines, or elsewhere in the South China Sea.

Hunter Stires: I think you hit the nail on the head, that when we think about China, we very often like to think about the big things. Every so often you hear about island building, although that was done about 10 years ago. You hear about the growth and the development of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, particularly in capital ships like carriers, cruisers, and destroyers.

What you don’t hear about are these lower intensity efforts to coerce and intimidate local civilian maritime populations in Southeast Asia. It bears repeating, half the world’s fishing fleet operates in the South China Sea. There are probably 3 to 4 million people who depend on access to this body of water for their livelihoods, whether as fishers, or resource extractors in the hydrocarbon industry, etc. China is subjecting this very substantial civilian population to a concerted campaign of intimidation and harassment.

What we are seeing, as you’ve noted, is that these Chinese forces will steal fishermen’s catch. They will confiscate radios and navigational equipment that are essential to safe navigation in busy waters. They will pour gasoline in drinking water supplies of Vietnamese fishermen to force them to return to shore. We see them ram and, occasionally sink or attempt to sink, not only civilian vessels, but ram Philippine Coast Guard vessels in attempts to sinks or disable them as the Coast Guard defend their sovereign rights to their exclusive economic zone as recognized under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And so, to your point about this broader implication of these kinds of seemingly minor activities in and of themselves, what’s really being contested are actually some of the foundations of that Rules-Based International Order. And beyond international order, it’s really one of the most fundamental principles of the modern system of international law, freedom of the seas.

Freedom of the seas is a principle that is four centuries old. It started with Hugo Grotius, who popularized the idea that the seas are open to everybody. They are a global commons for all mankind. And whatever rights countries have at sea is based on what they have on land. This was a foundational principle of customary international law.

More recently, it has been codified into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has been accepted by pretty much everyone—China included. The United States hasn’t ratified it because Congress had issues about deep-sea mining, but the rest of the time, we say this is a codification of customary international law, and therefore, we not only follow the law better than anybody else, we take the lead in enforcing it.

The freedom of the sea has been a foundational principle for the United States since before we were a country. It is a principle for which the United States has gone to war no less than six times, not counting numerous smaller constabulary actions by U.S. Naval Forces around the world over the past two and a half centuries.

China is trying to overturn this system of international law and the freedom of the seas, and replace it with its own sino-centric, hierarchical, authoritarian vision of what they refer to as “blue national soil.” As the phrase implies, this means the oceans can be claimed as if they are land. You basically fence off a patch of ocean and stick a flag in it, regardless of where that happens to be. In doing so, they seek to disenfranchise their less powerful neighbors from their rightful exclusive economic zones under international law.

There are generally two ways these two legal orders can contend with each other.

One is the conventional approach, which is where each side gets out their military, they have a fight, and then after the fight is over, the winner sequentially imposes their laws on the civilian population. That’s the sequential method, we generally refer to that as conventional war.

Now for the other option. If one side either doesn’t think they would win that fight, or if they just choose not to engage in that kind of conventional force-on-force confrontation, they have the option to decline battle with the defender of the established order and instead, seek to impose their own laws on a civilian population. That is what you are seeing China do. And we have a term for that kind of campaign design: it’s an insurgency.

Why does this matter, and why should Americans continue to care about the freedom of the seas? Taking a strictly national perspective here, the United States is dependent on the sea for its political, economic, and military access to the overwhelming majority of humanity, which lives outside North America.

If you want to reach anyone in the world in Europe, Asia, and Africa, you’ve got to travel there on or over the water. If the freedom of the sea goes away and can be overturned without so much as a shot being fired—which is a very real possibility if we allow China’s maritime insurgency to proceed unchecked—it will lead to the balkanization of the world’s oceans. This means a variety of avaricious coastal states come along in addition to China and lay claim to a patch of ocean, just because they really want to and have the means to enforce it.

This cuts against this fundamental principle of the rule of law in international affairs as opposed to might makes right. Over the last 80 years since World War II, that principle of the rule of law, has been very positive for humanity. The freedom of the sea in particular has been the foundation of the post-war international order. It is the fundamental enabler of the free and open trading regime that has lifted more people out of poverty and oppression than in any other period of time in human history. The freedom of the sea is worth defending.

In the present environment, where you have China seeking to undo the freedom of the sea without having to go to war against the guarantor of international maritime order, the challenge for the United States is to devise a strategy that can arrest China’s creeping expansionism without having to go to war ourselves, while reassuring these local civilian maritime populations that the rules have not, in fact, changed—that the rule of law remains in force and that they can continue to exercise their rights and pursue their economic interests.

Dan White: On October 28th, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a new maritime law for China that will go into effect in May 2026. China is now creating a framework for settling local cases in its own courts and establishing a parallel regional system of maritime law.

Hunter Stires: That is very consistent with the way China has been pursuing its strategy in the South China Sea. As you said, China seeks to impose its own laws—made in Beijing—on the civilian maritime populations of its neighbors. They seek to do this, again, not by going to war, but by going out and imposing their laws and forcing these fishermen and oil and gas merchants to submit to Chinese dictates or face some pretty horrible consequences.

These laws are designed to intimidate. And now, by creating dispute resolution mechanisms, they seek to position themselves as the arbiter of who governs where, and how resources are allocated in the South China Sea.

The allegory of a mafia group, or a local street gang is instructive here. Imagine you’re minding your own business, living in your neighborhood, and then one day a bunch of scary-looking guys with guns decide they really like your neighborhood, too. And they have decided it’s now their neighborhood, and now nobody gets to walk down the street, nobody gets to operate or patronize a business, without acknowledging the authority of the gang.

It doesn’t matter who they are, by the way. This same story could be told about a Mafia syndicate, a street gang, a drug cartel, a terrorist group. It’s all the same modus operandi. The mafia calls it protection money, China calls it “joint development of offshore resources in the South China Sea.” And so now China is creating a court to adjudicate its protection rackets. Think about the opening of The Godfather. What is Don Corleone doing? He is receiving supplicants and adjudicating cases as a local potentate would in the old days of kings and princes. China would like to do this as well. That certainly fits with China’s vision of itself as the center of world civilization, as the Middle Kingdom surrounded by progressively expanding concentric rings of tributary states and vassals. This is very much in keeping with China’s strategic culture and its sense of itself as the hegemonic power in the region.

What is helpful for the United States and our allies and partners is that the countries that have lived for periods of their history under Chinese domination have found that they don’t like it. Now they are keen to maintain their independence, and especially from such a coercive group of international gangsters as the regime in Beijing. They don’t want to submit to that. And international law has given them rights to these resources under an international order that is fair and equitable—which, by the way, China itself substantially shaped.

The Chinese government claims that, “oh my goodness, the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea was decided before we were powerful, and we didn’t get a say.” That’s complete horseshit. The Chinese delegation was instrumental in the negotiations, particularly in the development of what has become the globally accepted concept of the Exclusive Economic Zone. So, the notion that they were not consulted, that this is like one of the unequal treaties or something that was imposed on China during its century of humiliation, it’s a load of baloney. We should all be much louder in calling it as such.

It’s a good system that is equitable, and we should stand up for it.

Dan White: The Maritime COIN Project began three years ago. How has China’s behavior in the South China Sea evolved since the project started? What changes in behavior has China exhibited in the South China Sea, and has its behavior in the South China Sea expanded into other areas?

Hunter Stires: I’ll back up a bit in terms of the origins of the idea and the project. The concept of maritime insurgency and counterinsurgency we originally put forward in a piece in Proceedings in 2019 called “The South China Sea Needs a COIN Toss,” with a companion piece called “Why We Defend Free Seas.”

The very first person to reach out after those articles was then-Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, who was on his way out to the 7th Fleet to take command of Task Force 76, the 7th Fleet’s amphibious Task Force. Shortly after he got out there, there was this major international incident off Malaysia involving a Malaysian-chartered survey ship called the West Capella, out exploring for oil inside Malaysia’s rightful Exclusive Economic Zone—that has the misfortune of being located inside China’s outlandish claim to indisputable sovereignty the 9-dash line.

And so, this is between March and April 2020, at the moment when COVID started and both of our carriers’ readiness in the region were greatly affected by COVID. Admiral Kacher basically goes to Vice Admiral Merz, the Commander of 7th Fleet, and says, “put us in coach,” because he has a baby flat top, the USS America, which at the time is the first ship in the U.S. Navy equipped with the F-35. So he’s got this very interesting group of capabilities, and he also commands the rotationally Forward Deployed Littoral Combat ships in Singapore. They then set about essentially implementing a trial run of this Maritime Counterinsurgency playbook, where it was a highly successful operational prototype.

Unlike the legacy naval playbook of taking large surface ships, driving through a disputed area, and then leaving, the thesis of the work of this task force was, “how do you influence the local civilian mariners?” The thesis is that the relationship with the civilians and their perceptions are the decisive relationship, not the relationship between U.S. forces and Chinese forces. Under these circumstances a transient operation is not going to have an impact on civilian behavior, whereas demonstrating a persistent presence at that point of gray zone attack is going to be much more effective.

Getting back to the local street gang allegory, it is about demonstrating you have the back of locals. The decisions of the civilians in that situation are going to be based on whether or not they believe that the defenders of the established order can protect them against the reprisals of the gang, should they choose to defy them. In this situation, if the local cops say, “you don’t need to pay the gang protection money,” but the cops are only there 10 minutes out of every day, and when the police cruiser rolling through, the gang will lie low but will reappear and take charge after the cruiser turns the corner.

This is not to say the U.S. Navy doesn’t need the SWAT team, the capability to break down your door, which it very much has in the region, but it also needs that persistent low-end presence, closer to that of the beat cop. This is where assets like littoral combat ships have the potential to be a very effective beat cop in the South China Sea. It’s frankly the mission they were actually designed for.

And so, Admiral Kacher starts out with his larger forces, his big deck amphib, a cruiser, and an Australian frigate. They show up, and they stick around. They are visible and persistent, with very clear public messaging to the world to say, “we are here in support of our Malaysian allies and partners in pursuit of their lawful economic interests.” Every level of the Pacific Fleet followed this very clear and consistent messaging, and the Chinese became quite reticent.

Eventually, Kacher’s big ships have to rotate out but in their place he starts bringing in those littoral combat ships to sustain that presence over time and to continue to demonstrate that persistence. Despite notable Chinese pressure, the Malaysians stuck it out and finished all their planned work as previously scheduled and the Chinese got noticeably de-escalatory. Within the next year, three major regional players, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines each took a more assertive posture to stand up for themselves and their economic and diplomatic interests in the South China Sea, which is something that hadn’t been seen in years of running the legacy playbook.

The success of that operational prototype was the genesis of the Maritime Counterinsurgency Project, mobilizing the leading minds of maritime strategy to think about how to sustain this effort in a systematic way.

The effect has been fairly noticeable. The Taiwanese press was all over it and covered the Project launch in the same breath as Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, framing both as examples of how the United States is putting serious thought into how to back up allies in the region against Chinese coercion. The Chinese were really quite displeased. There was a fair amount of coverage in both English language and Chinese language papers such as the South China Morning Post and the Global Times, basically saying “if the Americans actually do this, this is going to be a real problem for us.”

The effort coincided with the Marcos Administration coming to power in the Philippines, and the dawn of the Philippine Coast Guard’s assertive transparency campaign. U.S. naval operations have subsequently evolved in the region with increased deployments of littoral combat ships to places like Singapore, which give the U.S. Navy a cop on the beat in the South China Sea to serve as a force multiplier to our local partners.

By far the most significant positive change has been the growing strength and effectiveness of both the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard. Over the last couple of years the Philippines Coast Guard has coupled its operations at sea with very clear messaging that they are there to protect their local civilian mariners against Chinese depredations. They are providing fuel and food supplies to fishermen and are directly challenging the China Coast Guard. They are filming it as well to show the world the brutish tactics that the China Coast Guard has practiced such as stealing fisherman’s cash, pouring gasoline in people’s drinking water, holding fishermen for ransom at several times for annual income, ramming and sinking boats. Showing the world that China is engaging in systematic maritime lawlessness, if not outright state piracy.

The Chinese have been ramping up their pressure on the Philippines in response. But the most important thing is that the Philippines hasn’t given up and as a result the Chinese have largely failed in achieving most of their objectives.

A number of other organizations have cropped up since the launch of the Maritime Counterinsurgency Project such as Project Myoushu at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation led by retired Air Force officer Ray Powell.

The U.S. Army, too, has gotten in the game in a pretty exciting way. Look at what General Charlie Flynn was able to accomplish at U.S. Army Pacific with the deployment of multi-domain task force assets and systems like the Typhon missile launcher to the Philippines. The Typhon represent a turnabout of the anti-access, area denial capabilities the Chinese had been trying to establish in the region for years. I highly recommend General Flynn’s contribution to the Maritime Counterinsurgency Project.

Rear Admiral Rommel Ong, the retired vice commander of the Philippines Navy, has made the observation based on the writings of counterinsurgency expert David Galula that the support of the population is gained by an active minority. He asserts that if you look at the entire region of Southeast Asia, and if you position the nations of the region as the population in that insurgency-counterinsurgency relationship, most of them are not going to get off the fence. There is a really long diplomatic tradition of hedging and neutrality in the region and deep relationships, economic and political and otherwise, with China. But he observes that all that is needed is an active minority to succeed here. This active minority can be the United States, Japan, and the Philippines.

I would add South Korea to this grouping as well. South Korea and Japan have played an indispensable role in the buildup of capability of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy. The Philippines now has a highly capable, Japanese-built coast guard and an increasingly capable South Korean-built navy.

China has attempted to reassert itself in response, recently declaring a 30-mile exclusion zone around Scarborough Shoal, declaring it a nature reserve. An ironic gesture given that Chinese activity, including dredging for giant clams, destroyed the place from an environmental standpoint.

The Philippines are holding their own, and their political will is a critical part of deterring China. Admiral Ong has also written about the importance of national will and references “The Cod Wars and Lessons for Maritime Counterinsurgency,” which discusses the brief maritime conflict between Iceland and Britain over access to fishing grounds in the Arctic.

Admiral Ong’s take away is that the Philippines is in a similar position to Iceland, and must sustain the same level of national will to afford the tactical innovation and assertiveness in the water to defend its interests against a bigger opponent. Looking at the Philippines and what they have been able to accomplish over the past couple years, I’d say they are working very assiduously to be more like Iceland in the Cod Wars, and as we know, Iceland won.

Dan White is an independent foreign policy analyst based in the New York Metro Area. Dan is a former member of the The Wilson Center and The Kennan Institute, and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. Dan maintains a newsletter, OPFOR Journal, which analyzes strategic competitions with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Hunter Stires served as the Maritime Strategist to the 78th Secretary of the Navy, where he was recognized for his work as one of the principal architects of the Maritime Statecraft strategy. He serves as the Project Director of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Maritime Counterinsurgency Project, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy, and the Founder and CEO of The Maritime Strategy Group.

Featured Image: The amphibious assault ship USS America (LHD 6) transits in formation March 24, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo)

Cyber

The Unwitting Fleet

March 23, 2026 Guest Author Leave a comment

By Eva Prokofiev

Thousands of commercial and private vessels transit the world’s oceans daily, broadcasting positional data, transmitting communications through exploitable unencrypted satellite communications, and connecting to shoreside networks with minimal security. Adversaries do not need to build dedicated collection strategies when the commercial fleet functions as a distributed sensor network accessible to anyone with the technical capability and intent.

The concept is not new. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union equipped commercial fishing trawlers with SIGINT and ELINT equipment, stationing them off U.S. naval bases to photograph and report the arrival and departure of warships.[1] These vessels – unremarkable in appearance and operating under legitimate commercial cover – functioned as auxiliary intelligence platforms. Today, the same logic applies at scale, except the commercial fleet no longer requires modification. The collection infrastructure is already installed.

In March 2025, a coordinated cyberattack disabled satellite communications across 116 vessels belonging to Iran’s state-owned shipping fleet.[2] Ship-to-shore links failed. Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking went dark. Voice communications were compromised. The attackers – a group known as Lab Dookhtegan – had not targeted vessels individually. Instead, they compromised Fanava Group, an Iranian satellite and IT provider, gaining root-level access to the Linux systems running VSAT terminals across the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) fleets simultaneously.[3] One provider, 116 vessels targeted, communications severed.

But before those communications were severed, the attackers had access to everything flowing through those systems – voice calls, data traffic, and real-time vessel positions around Bandar Abbas.[4] The attack was destructive, but the access that preceded it was an intelligence windfall. The incident demonstrated not merely that maritime communications are vulnerable, but that adversaries have recognized their intelligence value and are acting accordingly.

A Distributed Collection Network

The maritime sector’s digital transformation has created something unprecedented: a globe-spanning network of platforms that continuously radiate exploitable data while transiting areas of strategic significance. Modern vessels integrate VSAT terminals, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS), closed-circuit television, access control systems, and multiple wireless networks. Many feature remote monitoring allowing shoreside engineers to access propulsion and machinery controls. Entertainment and administrative systems frequently share network infrastructure with systems necessary to safely operate a ship.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution MSC.428(98), adopted in 2017, requires cyber risk management within Safety Management Systems for vessels subject to the International Safety Management (ISM) Code.[5] Yet implementation remains uneven, enforcement mechanisms weak, and significant portions of the maritime domain fall outside mandatory frameworks entirely.

The Guidelines on Cyber Security Onboard Ships, produced by BIMCO and major industry associations, identify structural vulnerabilities persisting across the sector: “involvement of multiple stakeholders potentially resulting in lack of accountability for IT and OT system infrastructure,” “use of legacy systems that are no longer supported,” and “a cyber risk management culture that still has potential for improvement.”[6]

Technical management fragments among owners, management companies, and rotating crews. Classification society oversight focuses primarily on safety rather than cybersecurity. Port state control inspections rarely assess digital vulnerabilities. The result: a global fleet where vessels carry sophisticated communications equipment with considerably weaker protections than naval auxiliaries operating in the same waters.

The barrier to access is remarkably low. A security researcher used a publicly available search engine to locate a commercial vessel’s satellite communications system and access it using default credentials (admin/1234). No exploit, no malware, no supply chain compromise – only a web browser.[7]

From an adversary perspective, this represents not a problem but an opportunity. The collection infrastructure exists. Someone else maintains it. And access requires only the technical capability to exploit known vulnerabilities – or unconventional methods to bypass existing controls, on-site or entirely remotely.

Intelligence Streams Without Deployment

Traditional signals intelligence requires expensive platforms, trained personnel, and operational risk. The unwitting fleet offers an alternative: passive collection from commercial systems that operators voluntarily connect to exploitable networks.

Communications interception represents the most direct stream. VSAT systems transmitting unencrypted or poorly secured traffic expose telephone calls, emails, and data transfers. Passengers and crew accustomed to connectivity discuss sensitive matters assuming shipboard communications are private. The BIMCO guidelines acknowledge that VSAT signals are “vulnerable to exploitation using low-cost, off-the-shelf products.”[6] Encryption implementation remains inconsistent across the sector. The Lab Dookhtegan attack demonstrated that compromising a satellite provider’s infrastructure via a supply chain attack grants access not just to data traffic but to Voice over IP (VOIP) services – enabling interception or disruption of voice communications between vessels and shore.

Location and pattern-of-life data flows continuously without requiring any compromise at all. AIS transponders broadcast position, course, and speed by design. Voyage histories stored in navigation systems reveal movement patterns. Booking and cargo management platforms maintain detailed records accessible through compromised supply chains. For vessels carrying high-value individuals, government officials, or defense-connected personnel, this information enables precise tracking across jurisdictions. The Fanava breach confirmed attackers accessed real-time vessel positions around Bandar Abbas, demonstrating how a single intrusion escalates from communications disruption to full operational visibility.[4] This dynamic is not limited to commercial vessels. Just this month, March 2026, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its carrier group were tracked in near real-time through Strava fitness data from a sailor’s smartwatch — a textbook example of how commercially available consumer technology becomes unintentional intelligence infrastructure.

Crew and passenger data constitutes targeting intelligence. Vessels routinely collect identification documents, travel histories, and contact details. Crew employment records, uploaded to recruitment agencies with minimal security, contain personal data exploitable for social engineering or direct approach. Cyber awareness training in the commercial maritime sector remains minimal. Exposure assessments have found crew credentials in breach databases, traced to documents uploaded years earlier to maritime employment platforms.

Physical proximity may be the least appreciated dimension. Commercial vessels routinely anchor near naval facilities, transit chokepoints, and call at ports hosting military ships. A vessel with compromised onboard systems positioned in these areas becomes a passive collection platform – whether operators recognize the condition or not.

The vulnerability of vessel navigation systems has been demonstrated directly. In 2013, University of Texas researchers used a $2,000 GPS spoofing device to covertly take control of an $80 million superyacht’s navigation system in the Mediterranean, diverting it from course without triggering any alarm.[8] If a research team can redirect a vessel using off-the-shelf equipment, an adversary can position a compromised vessel precisely where collection value is highest.

Consider a scenario: A commercial bulk carrier with compromised VSAT systems anchors in Hampton Roads awaiting berth assignment – within line of sight of Naval Station Norfolk. Its onboard Wi-Fi access point passively logs every wireless device in range, including phones carried by personnel on nearby piers. Its AIS receiver captures the movements of every naval vessel entering or departing. Its compromised satellite terminal provides an adversary with real-time access to the vessel’s communications and surrounding RF emissions. The crew is unaware. The operator is unaware. The adversary did not need to deploy a dedicated collection platform – the commercial fleet provided one.

This is not purely hypothetical. China has formalized this approach through its maritime militia. A 2025 Naval War College report documented that China embeds intelligence specialists – “information personnel” – aboard fishing and merchant vessels to collect data on foreign military vessels, transmitting intelligence directly to the PLA.[9] The Chinese government has installed BeiDou satellite systems with messaging capabilities on thousands of fishing boats for maritime surveillance.[10]

The critical difference between state-run programs and the unwitting fleet is intent. China’s maritime militia requires coordination, trained personnel, and exposure risk. The unwitting fleet requires none – the collection infrastructure is already deployed, maintained, and paid for by commercial operators.

Opportunities for collection extend beyond the vessel itself. Management companies, brokers, terminals, chandlers, and service providers all interface with vessel systems. The BIMCO guidelines warn that “lack of physical and/or cyber security at a supplier, vendor or service provider may result in a breach of corporate IT systems and/or corruption of ship OT/IT systems.”[6] A compromised vessel becomes an entry point into broader maritime and commercial networks.

The cumulative picture: adversaries can collect communications, track movements, harvest personal data, achieve physical proximity to sensitive facilities, and pivot into shoreside networks – all without deploying dedicated intelligence platforms.

Adversary Recognition of the Opportunity

Evidence suggests state and criminal actors recognize the maritime sector’s intelligence value – and are exploiting it with increasing frequency.

The Lab Dookhtegan attack used destructive commands to wipe storage partitions and disable the Falcon software central to Iran’s maritime satellite communications. The damage required physical replacement of hardware aboard affected vessels. Internal documents, network diagrams, and operational checklists were leaked.[3]

The Chinese state-sponsored group Mustang Panda has targeted cargo shipping companies in Norway, Greece, and the Netherlands, with malware discovered directly on cargo ship systems via USB-based infection.[12] The South Asian group SideWinder APT has targeted maritime facilities across Egypt, Djibouti, the UAE, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam. At least a dozen advanced persistent threat groups targeted the maritime industry in the past year alone.[12]

Other incidents confirm the sector’s exposure. In 2023, Lürssen – a major European shipbuilder – suspended operations following a ransomware attack.[13] The same year, Brunswick Corporation reported losses of $85 million and nine days of disrupted operations from a cyber incident.[14] In March 2024, MarineMax, the world’s largest luxury yacht retailer, disclosed that attackers exfiltrated data on over 123,000 customers and employees – including financial information on high-net-worth individuals.[15]

The BIMCO guidelines explicitly identify the threat actor landscape: “states, state-sponsored organisations, and terrorists” motivated by “political/ideological gain, espionage, financial gain, commercial espionage, and industrial espionage.”[6]

Russia’s intelligence-collection vessel Yantar – operated by the Main Directorate of Underwater Research (GUGI) – has been tracked surveilling undersea cables along Europe’s Atlantic coastline and operating near the U.S. submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia.[16][17] While the Yantar is a purpose-built intelligence platform, its operations demonstrate the collection value of physical proximity to maritime infrastructure – the same proximity that thousands of commercial vessels achieve daily without attracting attention.

Monitoring of sanctioned vessels and those linked to specific state actors has shown how AIS data, satellite imagery, and port records synthesize into comprehensive surveillance. The same techniques available to journalists and compliance analysts are available to intelligence services. The defensive or proactive awareness within much of the maritime sector lags far behind the exposure.

Strategic Geography

The unwitting fleet operates precisely where intelligence collection carries greatest value.

The Mediterranean hosts dense vessel traffic intersecting NATO operations, Russian operations, and critical energy transit routes. Cyprus, Malta, and Gibraltar – significant flag states and frequent ports of call – sit at the intersection of multiple intelligence interests.

The Arabian Gulf and Red Sea see commercial traffic alongside critical energy infrastructure and ongoing naval operations. Vessels transiting these waters pass within range of state actors possessing demonstrated cyber capabilities and clear strategic motivations. The Iranian fleet targeted in March 2025 operated extensively in these waters – and the attackers’ access to AIS tracking data around Bandar Abbas underscores the intelligence value of maritime positioning in contested regions.

The Indo-Pacific presents expanding concerns as maritime activity increases alongside great power competition. The South China Sea, Malacca Strait, and waters surrounding Taiwan see commercial vessels operating in proximity to military activities – with minimal cybersecurity oversight. Chinese intelligence-collection vessels have been observed near Australia’s Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, a joint U.S.-Australian facility providing VLF communications vital for submarine operations.[18]

Unlike military vessels with communications security protocols, commercial craft frequently operate with default configurations, outdated software, and crews unfamiliar with threat indicators. They anchor in remote locations, utilize facilities with limited security infrastructure, and interface with vendors without proper verification of cybersecurity practices. The unwitting fleet transits sensitive waters daily – radiating data, accepting connections, and enabling collection.

Implications for Naval and Intelligence Communities

Recognizing commercial vessels as existing intelligence infrastructure – rather than merely vulnerable assets – suggests several considerations for naval, coast guard, and intelligence communities.

A natural limitation of the unwitting fleet as a collection platform is that commercial vessels move according to commercial schedules, not adversary requirements. An adversary cannot direct a container ship to remain anchored near a naval facility indefinitely. However, the density of commercial traffic in strategic waters means exploitable vessels are nearly always present in areas of intelligence value – and supply chain compromise of a single VSAT provider can deliver simultaneous access to hundreds of vessels, as the Fanava breach demonstrated.

Awareness and monitoring: Commercial and private vessels operating near defense installations or during significant events represent potential collection platforms, whether through deliberate compromise or passive exploitation of security gaps. Analytical frameworks should account for the intelligence value these vessels offer adversaries by default.

Industry engagement: Classification societies and flag states could strengthen cybersecurity certification and extend requirements across vessel categories. Organizations like BIMCO have established guidelines; what remains absent is meaningful incentive for adoption. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard engagement with maritime industry associations might encourage improved practices while building information-sharing relationships.

Supply chain assessment: The Lab Dookhtegan attack demonstrated that VSAT providers, navigation system manufacturers, and vessel management software companies constitute single points of failure. Compromise of one provider delivered access to 116 vessels simultaneously. Understanding the security posture of these suppliers – and the potential for similar attacks against providers serving allied commercial fleets – supports broader maritime domain awareness.

Information sharing: Much of the maritime sector operates outside established security frameworks. Integrating commercial vessel incident data into threat assessment would improve understanding of adversary capabilities and intentions in the maritime domain.

Exercise integration: Naval and coast guard exercises could incorporate scenarios involving compromised commercial vessel communications or adversary exploitation of maritime satellite infrastructure. The Iranian fleet incident provides a real-world template.

Conclusion

The maritime sector’s cybersecurity gaps are typically framed as a defensive problem – vessels at risk of attack, operations vulnerable to disruption. This framing, while accurate, is incomplete.

The unwitting fleet is not merely vulnerable. It is already functioning as adversary intelligence infrastructure. Thousands of vessels transit strategic waters broadcasting position, transmitting communications through exploitable links, and maintaining connections to shoreside networks – all without security adequate to the operating environment.

The commercial fleet provides positioning, sensors, and connectivity. Operators maintain the infrastructure and pay the bills. Collection requires only the will and skill to access what is already exposed.

A vessel does not need to be gray-hulled to present intelligence value – or strategic risk. Naval and intelligence communities attentive to military communications security should extend that awareness to the unwitting fleet operating every day on the world’s oceans.

Eva Prokofiev, former Israeli Military Intelligence Officer from a Special Operations Division with 15+ years in cyber and intelligence. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Army War College and various defense publications. She is the founder and CEO of EPCYBER and RedRadar Technologies, focused on intelligence and cyber for government, defense, and maritime sectors.

References

[1] “Spy ship,” Wikipedia. Soviet fishing trawlers were equipped with SIGINT and ELINT equipment and stationed off U.S. naval bases to monitor warship movements. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_ship

[2] Iran International, “Cyber group says it disrupted Iranian shipping communications,” March 18, 2025. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202503182119

[3] Cydome, “Lab Dookhtegan Cyberattack – Second Wave Findings (Aug 2025).” Lab Dookhtegan published leaked internal documents, network diagrams, and operational data from Fanava Group following the attack. https://cydome.io/lab-dookhtegan-cyberattack-second-wave-findings-aug-2025/

[4] Cydome, “Lab Dookhtegan cyber attack on Iranian oil tankers disrupts operations,” March 2025. Maps with real-time vessel positions around Bandar Abbas confirmed access to AIS tracking data, and control over ship-to-shore VOIP services enabled interception of voice communications. https://cydome.io/lab-dookhtegan-cyber-attack-on-iranian-oil-tankers-disrupts-operations/

[5] International Maritime Organization, Resolution MSC.428(98), “Maritime Cyber Risk Management in Safety Management Systems,” June 2017. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Security/Documents/Resolution%20MSC.428(98).pdf

[6] BIMCO et al., The Guidelines on Cyber Security Onboard Ships, Version 4, 2021. https://www.bimco.org

[7] Cyber Defense Magazine, “Cyber Attacks at Sea: Blinding Warships,” July 2020. https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com/cyber-attacks-at-sea-blinding-warships/

[8] Todd Humphreys et al., University of Texas at Austin, “Researchers Successfully Spoof an $80 Million Yacht at Sea,” July 2013. https://news.utexas.edu/2013/07/29/ut-austin-researchers-successfully-spoof-an-80-million-yacht-at-sea/

[9] Conor M. Kennedy, “China’s Fishermen Spies: Intelligence Specialists in the Maritime Militia,” China Maritime Report No. 46, Naval War College, April 2025. https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cmsi-maritime-reports/46/

[10] Benar News, “China Turning South China Sea Supply Ships into Mobile Surveillance Bases,” April 2021. https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/surveillance-ships-04092021173155.html

[11] “Chinese Spy Ships Stalk U.S., Philippine and French Warships in South China Sea,” USNI News, April 2024. https://news.usni.org/2024/04/29/chinese-spy-ship-live-stalks-u-s-philippine-and-french-warships-in-south-china-sea-interrupts-live-fire-drill

[12] Cyble, “Cyber Threats Surge Against Maritime Industry in 2025,” July 2025. https://cyble.com/blog/cyberattacks-targets-maritime-industry/

[13] The Record, “German builder of yachts and military vessels hit by ransomware attack,” April 2023. Lürssen shipyard operations brought to a standstill by ransomware attack over Easter holiday. https://therecord.media/german-builder-of-superyachts-and-military-boats

[14] The Record, “Marine industry giant Brunswick Corporation lost $85 million in cyberattack, CEO confirms,” August 2023. Nine days of disrupted operations; major impact on Navico marine electronics subsidiary. https://therecord.media/marine-industry-giant-brunswick-lost-millions

[15] BleepingComputer, “Yacht giant MarineMax data breach impacts over 123,000 people,” July 2024. Rhysida ransomware group exfiltrated 225GB of data including financial documents, driver’s licenses, and passports. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/yacht-giant-marinemax-data-breach-impacts-over-123-000-people/

[16] Financial Times, “The Russian Spy Ship Stalking Europe’s Subsea Cables,” Helen Warrell, Chris Cook, and Daria Mosolova, September 26, 2025. https://www.ft.com/content/0b351091-3f82-4f2f-bef2-a52a35f009f2

[17] “Russian research vessel Yantar,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_research_vessel_Yantar

[18] “Chinese Spy Ship Makes First Appearance Near Australian Submarine Communications Base,” The War Zone, May 2022. https://www.twz.com/chinese-spy-ship-makes-first-appearance-near-australian-submarine-communications-base

Featured Image: Commercial vessels sailing (courtesy of pxhere.com)

Strategy

Why America Needs a Four-Ocean Navy

March 20, 2026 Guest Author 1 Comment

By Derek S. Reveron

Rethinking America’s Strategic Map

When Americans think about how the United States engages the world, we instinctively reach for maps. Our government bureaucracies are organized this way: regional bureaus at the State Department, unified commands at the Department of Defense, and component commands within the Navy. We have neatly drawn boundaries that shape policy debates, strategy, and force development decisions.¹

But the world does not organize itself along U.S. bureaucratic seams. Commerce, data, and adversaries cut across regions. Revising the Unified Command Plan (the classified document that assigns missions, responsibilities, and geographic areas to U.S. combatant commands), empowering commands as global integrators, or giving commands global authorities does not change reality. Warships, commercial shipping, and fishing fleets operate across oceans. Yet, warships face different threats across different regions and are assigned different missions. The modern Caribbean is relatively benign with a focus on targeting small fast craft, the Indian Ocean can be non-permissive with a focus on major combat operations, and the Mediterranean is close to allies with ships focused on high-end ballistic missile defense and land attack.

For part of the twentieth century, the United States solved this problem by building what Franklin Roosevelt in 1940 called a “two-ocean Navy,” providing enough ships to operate within the Atlantic and the Pacific.² Beginning in the 1930s and culminating in 1940, Congress passed the Two-Ocean Navy Act, which authorized an unprecedented expansion of shipyards that enabled the Navy to innovate and scale up to equip a fleet for each ocean.³ While it was a historically large naval expansion, it also provides a contemporary lens to inform fleet design.

Given the scope of national security today, the U.S. cannot afford to build enough warships, the industrial base could not build said warships even if resources were available, and a globe-oriented fleet would be inadequate. Multi-purpose ships ready to operate everywhere leads to overmatch when destroyers interdict dhows in the Gulf of Aden or drug boats in the Caribbean and undermatch when contemplating the defense of Taiwan. Simply, today’s approach to fleet design does not work. A globally dispersed Navy deprives the Pacific Ocean region of needed forces while increasing strain on ships and crews, reducing service life, and undermining needed investment in the Pacific theater that defines future high-end naval warfare.

History points toward a solution but reverting to a two-ocean fleet is not adequate. The Indian Ocean has emerged as a third, distinct ocean of operations and the Arctic Ocean is a growing fourth ocean.⁴ Further, the challenges in the Atlantic and the Pacific are not the same. It is time to expand our map and update our concept of the prevailing strategic framework for naval power. A four-ocean Navy organized around the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, and Pacific oceans offers a clearer way to think about America’s role in the world, aligns missions with geography, takes advantage of the partner network that can contribute to U.S. national security, clarifies force design requirements, and buys the right kinds of ships optimized for each theater.

Why an Ocean Lens?

Oceans are the connective tissue of the international system. The global economy floats on tankers and moves by container, pulses through fiber optic cables laid on the seafloor, and depends on freedom of navigation across the oceans. Hydrocarbons, rare earths, and manufactured goods cross oceans daily. The coffee we drink, the shoes we wear, and the computers we use arrive by sea.

Oceans are also the medium through which rivals project power. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has an unmistakably maritime dimension with port access across the Indian Ocean to the Horn of Africa, creating a new maritime silk road.⁵ China and Russia seek access routes through the Arctic to link the Atlantic and Pacific. Iran and non-state actors routinely threaten shipping transiting critical maritime chokepoints affecting Indian Ocean commerce.

However, American bureaucracies and strategies often obscure these realities. The Indian Ocean, for example, is carved up among three different combatant commands and multiple State Department bureaus. No single U.S. commander or policymaker has full responsibility. Ships chop across theaters, but the planners inadvertently create blind spots and miss opportunities. By contrast, an oceanic lens forces planners to look at connectivity through maritime missions rather than administrative boundaries.

An oceanic lens provides clarity and simplicity since it reflects how the world works. It is also a way to optimize the fleet for the missions it conducts since equipping the Navy with enough high-end, multi-purpose ships has proven to be impossible. For example, using an Arleigh Burke–class destroyer for every mission, regardless of threat environment, creates costly inefficiencies. Deploying one of the Navy’s most advanced warships to conduct counter-drug patrols in the benign Caribbean, maritime security operations in the permissive Mediterranean, and air defense missions in the contested Indian Ocean misaligns capabilities and requirements.

The most sophisticated warships are not needed everywhere; using them for low-threat operations accelerates wear, drains resources, and reduces availability for missions where their advanced systems are essential. Unmanned systems and partnering with capable allies can perform many of the lower-end tasks more effectively and at a far lower cost. Reframing our force design through the lens of a four-ocean Navy clarifies where to concentrate high-end capabilities and sets priorities for industry that has not been able to adapt when futuristic warships do not align with an assumed future.

Warship acquisition is a wager on the character of future operations, and when strategic assumptions shift, production plans fail. The Seawolf-class submarine was designed for sustained Cold War undersea competition, but the Soviet collapse reduced the program to three hulls. The Zumwalt-class destroyer, built around expectations of land-attack dominance and technological overmatch, fell from thirty-two planned ships to three amid cost growth and changing operational priorities. The Littoral Combat Ship reflected post-9/11 assumptions about modularity and irregular warfare in littoral environments, yet survivability concerns led to truncated procurement and decommissioning. The Constellation-class frigate was also cancelled in favor of “more readily producible ships.”⁶

The Missions of a Four-Ocean Navy

A four-ocean Navy begins with understanding missions the President expects the Navy to conduct. Each ocean represents a distinct strategic environment with its own geography, chokepoints, threats, and partner networks. The Atlantic and Arctic Oceans are primarily anti-submarine warfare (ASW), missile defense, and maritime security theaters to protect the homeland. The Indian Ocean is primarily a sea lines of communication (SLOC) protection and maritime interdiction theater to secure global trade, and land attack in support of U.S. Central Command. The Pacific Ocean is primarily a combined operations and power projection theater to deter or defeat Chinese and North Korean aggression.

Defending the Homeland

The Atlantic Ocean links the United States to its European allies. During the Cold War, U.S. naval strategy emphasized transatlantic reinforcement through convoys. Anti-submarine warfare was a critical Navy mission to protect convoys and to check Soviet submarines. ASW capabilities atrophied in the wake of Soviet collapse, but Russia’s submarine fleet is back and represents a formidable challenge in the North Atlantic.⁷ The Arctic also opens new avenues for Russia to pressure North America, which helps explain the administration’s interest in stronger links with allies Denmark and Canada.

However, the Atlantic is not just about Europe and Russia. To the south, the Caribbean and South Atlantic generate unique missions. The Navy and Coast Guard patrol the Caribbean to disrupt illicit trafficking networks that move drugs, weapons, and people. These missions support partner governments in Central America and the Caribbean who have a shared interest in reducing illicit trafficking. In the South Atlantic, the Navy works with its Brazilian, Argentine, and other partners to build maritime capacity, deter illegal fishing and trafficking, and reinforce hemispheric stability.

With these missions in mind, the Atlantic Fleet requires ships specialized for ASW and escort missions as well as smaller ships for maritime interdiction operations. Frigates, destroyers, and attack submarines matter most in the North Atlantic and can take advantage of American and Canadian ports for logistics. Maritime patrol aircraft complement these surface and subsurface forces. The Arctic requires persistent presence, cold-weather hardening, and under-ice capabilities.

For the Caribbean and South Atlantic, small surface combatants and unmanned systems provide affordable and effective presence that can interface with partners who operate similar platforms. Given the friendly logistics environment, cheaper diesel submarines can also operate in the Western Hemisphere, freeing up more expensive nuclear submarines for the Pacific, and can be sourced from U.S. allies who excel in building modern diesel-electric submarines.⁸

Securing the Arteries of Global Trade

The Indian Ocean is busy maritime space.⁹ It carries energy from the Arabian Gulf to Asia and manufactured goods from Asia to Europe. It is also the ocean where China’s maritime presence is expanding most rapidly, with port agreements stretching from Sri Lanka to East Africa.¹⁰ China’s state-owned enterprises have been building commercial connections in the Middle East and Africa with its Navy following its trade.

The Indian Ocean is also a frequent site of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Amphibious ships and logistics vessels are uniquely capable of delivering rapid aid, supporting stability, and showcasing American goodwill. The demise of the Agency of International Development portends increased calls for Navy assistance as these missions reinforce alliances and prevent adversaries from filling vacuums when governments teeter.

The Indian Ocean Fleet requires ships optimized for endurance, presence, and rapid response. Logistics ships, replenishment oilers, and mobile bases are essential to support power projection in the Middle East. Amphibious ships, destroyers, and patrol craft support diverse missions from humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HA/DR) to counter-piracy. Coalition operations with India, Australia, France, and Gulf states amplify presence.

Deterring a Peer Competitor with Allied Multipliers

The Pacific Ocean remains the most likely theater for high-end naval warfare. For the last eighty years, the Navy has deterred major war in this region. While tensions subsided in the 1990s, China’s navy is now the largest in the world and supports an aggressive national security policy. Beijing is expanding its reach into the South China Sea and pressing its claims against U.S. allies. Taiwan remains the most acute flashpoint, but Chinese harassment of Japan and the Philippines also create demands on the Navy. North Korea adds volatility to the region, and Russia maintains a Pacific fleet presence able to reinforce the PLA Navy.

To be sure, the Pacific Ocean Fleet requires the Navy’s most advanced and combat-ready platforms. Aircraft carriers remain indispensable for forward strike and achieving air superiority when needed. Nuclear attack submarines provide unique capabilities, and as William Toti emphasized, “you can’t win without (more) submarines.”¹¹ Amphibious assault ships also enable Marine operations, which are fielding missile systems to hold PLAN assets at risk. This forward posture maximizes combat power where it matters most—maintaining balance against China’s growing maritime capabilities.

Crucially, the United States is not alone in this mission. Japan and South Korea field their own Aegis-equipped destroyers, which are interoperable with U.S. platforms. This creates a force multiplier of shared sensors, integrated missile defense networks, and combined fleet operations. Together, the allies can pool capabilities to defend against North Korean and Chinese missiles, share intelligence to track and engage China’s surface ships, and coordinate operations across the region. This allied integration makes the Pacific Ocean Fleet stronger than the sum of its parts.

A central virtue of the four-ocean Navy is that it saves money while improving readiness by considering operating environments that vary from the relatively benign Caribbean to the potentially hostile Pacific. This conceptual lens aligns missions and force structure, allocates resources efficiently, and takes advantage of allies’ support and technology. Not every mission requires a $13-billion aircraft carrier and not every region needs a $4.5 billion nuclear submarine. By tailoring fleets to ocean missions, we can prioritize platforms and crews for deployment to one of four oceans. In short, the four-ocean Navy avoids the trap of being everywhere with everything while preserving global reach.

Congress and the Four-Ocean Navy Act of 2026

Congress is an essential partner in Navy force development through appropriations and promotes continuity across administrations through members’ longevity and their staffs. In 1940, Congress passed the Two-Ocean Navy Act with remarkable strategic foresight that delivered the Navy that won World War II. Today, we face a similar inflection point. Just as 1940 demanded a new framework, the 250th anniversary of independence in 2026 offers an opportunity to legislate a Four-Ocean Navy Act. Congress can reaffirm America’s global maritime leadership by anchoring naval strategy in all four oceans. By disaggregating the global Navy concept to four oceans, it also offers a fair chance to build fleets that can meet mission requirements.

Such an act would:

Formally recognize the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, and Pacific as co-equal theaters of American naval strategy.
Direct the Department of Navy to structure fleets, budgets, and procurement with oceanic missions in mind.
Authorize balanced procurement of frigates and diesel-electric submarines for the Atlantic Ocean, icebreakers and underwater capabilities for the Arctic, amphibious and logistics ships for the Indian Ocean, and sustained investment in carriers and nuclear submarines for the Pacific Ocean.
Signal to allies and adversaries that the US intends to remain the world’s leading maritime power through optimized ships it can build and Sailors it can train.

In short, a Four-Ocean Navy Act would demonstrate that America’s 250th birthday is not only about reflecting on history, but about charting a confident course for the next century. As BJ Armstrong wrote, “U.S. naval power—and its strength relative to other nations or navies—is instead a choice to be made by the American people through the actions of their elected representatives.”¹² This is a maritime century, but to thrive in it, America must choose to participate.

America’s strategic map must change. The two-ocean Navy of the past secured victory in World War II and sustained deterrence preventing great power conflict throughout the Cold War. With the inability to field high-end, multipurpose warships globally, we need a four-ocean Navy that recognizes the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, and Pacific as distinct theaters with unique requirements. This is a call for clarity: matching missions to oceans and tailoring warships with crews to oceans.

Derek S. Reveron is Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and Faculty Affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The views expressed here are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. Department of Defense or its components, to include the Department of the Navy or the U.S. Naval War College.

References

1. Gvosdev, Nikolas K. and Derek S. Reveron, “Geography, Bureaucracy, and National Security: The New Map,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, July 20, 2023.

2. Curzon, Daniel, Eric Perinovic, Tyler Pitrof, and Shawn Woodford, Navy Force Planning and Design, 1933-2019, Naval History and Heritage Command, 2025.

3. Symonds, Craig L., American Naval History: A Very Short Introduction, Very Short Introductions (New York, 2018; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 May 2018).

4. Baruah, Darshana M. The Contest for the Indian Ocean: And the Making of a New World Order. Yale University Press, 2024.

5. Funaiole, Michael P. and Jonathan E. Hillman, “China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative: Economic Drivers and Challenges,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), April 2, 2018

6. Sam LaGrone,” Navy Cancels Constellation-class Frigate Program, Considering New Small Surface Combatants,” November 25, 2025. https://news.usni.org/2025/11/25/navy-cancels-constellation-class-frigate-program-considering-new-small-surface-combatants

7. Foggo III, James, and Alarik Fritz. 2016. “The Fourth Battle of the Atlantic.” United States Naval Institute. Proceedings 142 (6): 18.

8. Spector, Jordan A. “The Path to a Bigger Submarine Fleet Includes Diesels.” Proceedings 151, no. 10, October 2025.

9. Shrikhande, Sudarshan. 2025. “Another Turbulent Year in the Indian Ocean.” United States Naval Institute. Proceedings 151 (5): 1.

10. Kardon, Isaac (2021) “Research & Debate—Pier Competitor: Testimony on China’s Global Ports,” Naval War College Review: Vol. 74: No. 1, Article 11.

11. Toti, William. 2023. “You Can’t Win Without (More) Submarines.” United States Naval Institute. Proceedings 149 (12).

12. Armstrong, Benjamin. 2021. “American Naval Dominance Is Not a Birthright.” United States Naval Institute. Proceedings 147 (9).

Featured Image: USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) transits the Atlantic Ocean in its final rounds of exercises prior to deployment, Feb. 15, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo)

Asia-Pacific

Operation Highmast: UK Eastern Deployment for a “Two-Carrier Navy”

March 18, 2026 Guest Author 1 Comment

By David Scott

Operation Highmast, running from April to November 2025, took a UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG), led by HMS Prince of Wales, over 40,000 nautical miles to the Sea of Japan and back. The CSG consisted of five UK vessels, with eight others joining the CSG at various stages from other navies. Three strategic considerations underpinned this deployment as per Prime Minister Keir Starmer: successfully operating a two-carrier navy (HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales), sending a “clear message of strength to our adversaries,” and “a message of unity and purpose to…allies.”

Operating a Two-Carrier Navy

Operation Highmast was announced in May 2023 by Conservative Party Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the signing of the Hiroshima Accord, which was a landmark agreement focusing on “an enhanced UK-Japan global strategic partnership” and included “the future deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group to the Indo-Pacific.” The deployment was carried out by the Labour Party administration after it came to power in July 2024, and it proceeded despite some calls to “mothball” of one of the carriers after the exchange of power between parties.

Another strategic decision illuminated by Operation Highmast was that despite growing concerns over Russian aggression in Europe, the Royal Navy maintained an Indo-Pacific commitment, albeit modified. The March 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy announcement of an “Indo-Pacific tilt” underpinned the Queen Elizabeth CSG deployment in that year’s Operation Fortis. Four years later, the June 2025 Strategic Defence Review mantra of “NATO first does not mean NATO only” guided the Prince of Wales CSG deployment in Operation Highmast.

Strategically, the UK’s punch increased as both its Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are the largest vessels ever constructed for the Royal Navy (80,000 ton displacement). This is almost four times the displacement of the three Invincible-class aircraft carriers (22,000 ton displacement) they replaced. Additionally, the Initial Operating Capacity (IOC) for the Wildcat helicopter Sea Venom anti-ship missile, carried on the Prince of Wales, was announced at the start of October. The Royal Navy considered this “a step-change in [its] combat power.”

After deciding to build the aircraft carriers, the UK government chose to embark F-35B fighters, considerably more advanced than the retired Harriers used on the previous Invincible-class. Strategically, the F-35B decision would enhance interoperability with the US, Italian, and Japanese navies. Eighteen UK F-35Bs embarked at the start of the Prince of Wales deployment and were joined by six more in October for a total of 24. Unfortunately, these jets had embarrassing engine malfunctions including one that was temporarily grounded in India as well as another in Japan. Nevertheless, Full Operational Capacity (FOC) was declared in November, signifying that the two carriers, the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, could operate with purely UK F-35B complements.

Working with Allies and Partners

The Royal Navy’s ability to work with others was illustrated in cooperation with various European navies as well as in operations with India, Australia, Japan, and the United States—denoting a tacit balancing against China.

Operation Highmast represented a European rotation of CSGs, under the European Carrier Group Interoperability Initiative (ECGII), which has been guiding defense movements since 2008. The 2023 UK-France Summit had agreed on “the sequencing of more persistent European carrier strike group presence in the Indo-Pacific.” In this vein, the Italian CSG deployment in the second half of 2024, led by ITS Cavour, was followed by the French CSG deployment in the first third of 2025, led by FNS Charles de Gaulle, and then by the UK CSG deployment, led by HMS Prince of Wales, in the following months of 2025.

Operation Highmast had other European nations embedding their ships within the UK CSG. The Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen was in support throughout the CSG deployment. This reflects the Joint Statement on Enhanced Defence Cooperation between Norway and the United Kingdom signed in February 2025. Portugal’s frigate NRP Bartolomeu Dias joined the CSG from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Spain’s frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez joined from the Atlantic to the Philippines, and Italy’s ITS Luigi Rizzo joined the CSG in the Mediterranean.

Close UK-Italy ties were on show as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Defense Secretary John Healey hosted their Italian counterparts on board the Prince of Wales in November at the conclusion of the Falcon Strike exercise, which was the NATO exercise at the end of Operation Highmast of the coast of Naples, Italy. Their Joint Statement noted:

The presence of the F-35-equipped UK Carrier Strike Group in Naples underlines deep British-Italian defense ties. Complex joint exercises during the deployment have further enhanced the interoperability of our Armed Forces.

The dual carrier exercises with Italy’s ITS Cavour in the Med Strike exercise in May as well as the Neptune Strike exercise in November represented a European willingness to carry the burden in the Mediterranean, enabling US carrier strength to be deployed elsewhere.

The UK CSG interaction with India reflected the February 2025 Defense Partnership-India (DP-1) as well as the UK decision in 2022 to co-lead India’s Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI). The CSG exercised in the Arabian Sea with India twice on its way to and from Japan. In June 2025, the CSG exercised with INS Tabar, a P-8I Neptune plane, and an Indian submarine. The October Konkan exercise was particularly powerful. It involved dual carrier operations with the INS Vikrant CSG for the first time, which included seven ships in the Indian CSG and six ships in the UK CSG. Port calls to Mumbai and Goa coincided with Keir Starmer’s visit to Mumbai. Not surprisingly, the India-UK Joint Statement on October 9 declared: “Prime Minister Modi welcomed the port call of UK’s Carrier Strike Group and the Royal Navy’s exercise Konkan with the Indian Navy.” An implementing agreement on electric-powered engines, currently in development by Rolls Royce for India’s next generation navy, was on show with the Prince of Wales’s and HMS Richmond’s Full Electric Propulsion System.

Australian involvement with the CSG was noticeable. Having just carried out freedom of navigation activity around the Spratley Islands with HMS Spey in June, Australia’s HMAS Sydney joined the UK CSG in July on their way to Australia for Exercise Talisman Sabre. The Sydney participated in the CSG exercises in the Timor Sea with the USS George Washington CSG, representing a trilateral Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) format. On July 27, the third day of the Australia-UK Ministerial (AUKMIN) talks were held in Darwin, Australia on the Prince of Wales under Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA). These talks involved Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Defense Secretary John Healey, and their Australian counterparts. The AUKMIN Joint Statement welcomed that “the [CSG] deployment demonstrates the UK’s ongoing commitment to increase interoperability with Australia in the Indo-Pacific.” HMAS Brisbane joined the CSG in August in the Philippine Sea as part of the trilateral Japan-UK-US CSG and again in the bilateral UK-Japan carrier drills southwest of Japan in September.

UK convening power was on display as—for the first time—the Prince of Wales led the Bersama Lima exercise in September, off the Malaysian coast, under the Five Power Defense Arrangements (FPDA). This involved other naval units from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia (HMAS Ballarat) and New Zealand (HMNZS Aotearoa). New Zealand’s HMNZS Te Kaha had earlier joined the CSG from April to July across the Indian Ocean from the Arabian Sea to the Timor Sea, while Canada’s HMCS Ville de Québec joined the CSG from April (Devonport) to August (North Philippine Sea).

UK cooperation with Japan was further strengthened by Operation Highmast. When the Prince of Wales moored in Tokyo Bay on August 28, UK Defense Secretary John Healey, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, and Japan Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani were present to welcome the carrier and participate in the Pacific Future Forum onboard. At the Forum, Healey stressed UK-Japan defense cooperation: “[T]his carrier strike route deployment is the operational demonstration of this truth,” and “that is why the presence of the Prince of Wales here in Tokyo is not just symbolic — it’s strategic.”

Naval cooperation with Japan was on show with the trilateral carrier exercises involving JS Kaga in the North Philippine Sea in August, the F-35B bilateral exercises in the Sea of Japan on September 6, and the bilateral carrier exercise off south-west Japan, which again involved JS Kaga as well as JS Akebono, on September 9. It was particularly helpful to provide proof of concept when UK jets landed on JS Kaga as it was converted from a helicopter carrier to a fixed-wing F-35B-capable aircraft carrier. It was also noticeable that JS Akebono stayed with the UK CSG on its way back across the Indian Ocean.

The trilateral carrier exercise in the North Philippine Sea was a particularly striking visual moment, involving as it did four flat-top F-35B carrying battle groups, involving the USS George Washington, the USS America, Japan’s JS Kaga, and the UK’s Prince of Wales. This trilateral naval format reflects the Japan-UK-US agreement signed by naval chiefs in October 2016, that “as Chiefs of three highly capable and like-minded Services, [the nations] share a common vision of enhancing the operational effectiveness of… maritime forces through increased cooperation.” This was furthered in their Joint Statement in November 2019 about maintaining a “routine forward presence“ for cooperating over “the security of the Indo-Pacific region.” In the case of operational effectiveness, the common F-35B choices made by all three navies aids inter-operability, which was very much on show with the crossdeck activities carried out in Operation Highmast between these various carriers.

Last but not least, cooperation with the US was present throughout. The UK CSG was led through the Bab-el-Mandeb by USS Truxtun. Twice the USS George Washington CSG exercised with the UK CSG: once bilaterally in the East Timor Sea and another time trilaterally with Japan in the Philippine Sea. In another first, the USNS Wally Schirra, alongside RFA Tidespring, carried out a simultaneous Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with the Prince of Wales. The USS Higgins accompanied HMS Richmond on its transit of the Taiwan Strait in September before briefly joining the main UK CSG group as it sailed across the South China Sea. When the CSG transited into Red Sea in October, anti-drone and missile cover was provided by USS Forrest Sherman.

Deterring Adversaries?

On the eve of departure, the UK Defense Secretary John Healey had been upbeat in April, commenting, “[The] Royal Navy is once again demonstrating its formidable capability while protecting British values and sending a powerful message of deterrence to any adversary.”

In terms of operations, the CSG was able to twice deploy through the troubled Red Sea. When transiting in late May/early June, the CSG had been put on “defense station” in the light of continuing Houthi activities in the Red Sea. The context was that the UK had carried out strikes on Houthi drone facilities on April 29, joining the US in Operation Rough Rider. However, despite Houthi outrage, all was calm a month later for the CSG. Upon the CSG’s return in September, a diversionary tactic was employed. A fake Bahr Guardian sea exercise was announced for the Arabian Sea, with an accompanying press blackout, leaving the CSG free to instead slip though the Bab-el-Mandeb and up the Red Sea. It is unclear as to whether this move was an indication of the UK’s cunning or a fear that a publicly announced transit was still too dangerous.

China remained the elephant in the room as the UK refused to acknowledge the deployment was China-motivated. Though China did not use official public channels to announce its displeasure, its state media, namely the Global Times, was ready to express China’s negative opinions. Back in 2023, when the deployment was first announced, a Global Times editorial on December 17, titled “The UK’s sunset fleet should just stay surfacing the internet,” warned that the UK was “closer to becoming a laughing stock.” The article derided UK collaboration with Japan as a vain attempt to restrain China. These protestations more likely revealed a sensitive subject for Beijing over UK-Japan security collaboration.

During the 2025 CSG deployment, the Chinese state media was ready to comment again. Starmer’s announcement about meeting threats was immediately denounced in the Global Times on April 24 with a piece titled “Can the UK aircraft carrier’s ‘return to the Indo-Pacific’ deter anyone?” Global Times journalists, Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui, scoffed over UK problems with the F-35B jets in their August 10 article titled: “UK carrier-based F-35B reportedly makes emergency landing in Japan; Chinese expert says incidents highlight Britain’s struggling with aircraft complexity.”

There had been advance speculation whether the UK would be deterred from freedom of navigation activities in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. It was significant that both were carried out. The CSG detached HMS Richmond for a transit of the Taiwan Strait alongside USS Higgins on September 12, which was immediately denounced as “provocative” by the PLA Eastern Theater Command. Some Chinese harassment had taken place. “Constructive kills,” or in layman’s terms tactical drills run with no missiles fired, were carried out around HMS Richmond with Chinese jets following the path they would take if they were launching an attack. Immediately after, the CSG transited the South China Sea, during which RFA Tidespring and HNoMS Roald Amundsen carried out specific freedom of navigation activities around the Spratleys in mid-September. The CSG was followed by several Chinese ships broadcasting messages for the CSG to stay away. However, the details on this only came to light in a Times report on September 29 followed by the Royal Navy briefing on 30 September, by which time the UK ships had long left these waters.

Unsurprisingly, the UK exercising with other China-concerned actors attracted further criticisms from China. On July 14, Zhang Changyue and Guo Yuandan denounced the Talisman Sabre exercise in their piece titled: “US-Australia largest ever war drill underway, hyping it may draw ‘Chinese observation’ to boost attention.” The subsequent trilateral exercising drew more Chinese fire with Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui’s piece on August 6 titled: “US, UK, Japan, others hold drill in Pacific; move undermining regional peace.” One can surmise that such Chinese criticisms would not appear unless the UK deployment was having an impact regarding freedom of navigation issues and a tacit balancing of China.

Looking forward

Five strategic questions remain to be answered for the future concerning the operation of a two-carrier Navy:

With two carriers scheduled for active service until 2029, should the UK maintain a two-carrier navy and resist any further calls for ”mothballing?”
What is the right balance between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific CSG deployments? If Indo-Pacific deployments continue regularly should the four-year gap between Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales missions become the norm, or should it be shortened or lengthened?
How far should carriers operate as “crewed aircraft” carriers. The Strategic Defence Review recommends that:

Much more rapid progress is needed in its evolution into ‘hybrid’ carrier airwings, whereby crewed combat aircraft (F-35B) are complemented by autonomous collaborative platforms in the air, and expendable, single-use drones. Plans for the hybrid carrier airwings should also include long-range precision missiles capable of being fired from the carrier deck.

It can be noted that in a “historic first,” the Prince of Wales used drones to transfer supplies between ships as opposed to traditional helicopters.

How will the Royal Navy manage its fleet’s numbers to support its strategic goals? The structural problems of being hollowed out, in terms of other naval assets, remain acute. The continuing challenge of numbers expected to decline before eventual increase in numbers as eight Type-26 and five Type-31 replacements for the nine current Type-23 frigates are completed.
How will the Royal Navy manage its new F-35Bs moving forward? Questions and choices still remain surrounding the numbers and capabilities of the F-35B planes. At present, the UK currently has 34 F-35Bs with initial plans to acquire 48 and potentially 138 in the more distant future. F-35B capabilities await the replacement of their Paveway-series guided bombs by more advanced Spear-3 cruise missiles. These were originally slated for delivery and use on F-35Bs by 2025 but face delays due to software configuration problems at Lockheed Martin and US export control regulations.

“Quo Vadis?” indeed, for a two-carrier UK navy.

Dr. David Scott is an associate member of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies. A prolific writer on Indo-Pacific maritime geopolitics, he can be contacted at davidscott366@outlook.com.

Featured Image The U.K. Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09)’s participation in WESTLANT 23. (US Navy photo by Dane Wiedmann)

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