A DEVON university’s expertise in maritime cyber security and digital twinning will be critical to an international initiative designed to protect and secure the world’s sub-sea infrastructure.

Researchers from the University of Plymouth are part of the multinational MANGROVE consortium, led by Saab and selected by NATO to lead its Allied Underwater Battlespace Mission Network project (AUWB-MN).

The project formally commenced in September, and over the coming year its partners will establish ways to deliver underwater interoperability between the militaries of allied nations.

The consortium is being led by Saab Kockums, a division of the Swedish engineering company responsible for designing and manufacturing military submarines and surface ships, and also includes CETENA, FlySight, GraalTech, IDS, Miraya, Saab UK and BlueBear, and S2IX.

It will harness innovations developed by the University in its Cyber-SHIP Lab and Maritime Simulation Laboratory, which are in turn a key element of Plymouth's status as the UK's National Centre for Marine Autonomy.

It will also benefit from the University's partnership with the Royal Navy and its connections to Smart Sound Plymouth, the unique and fully connected proving ground used to develop advanced marine technologies above, on and below the water.

Executive Dean, Professor Christopher Fogwill, said: ‘In a changing geopolitical landscape, new threats are emerging to sub-sea infrastructures that are vital to our digital and energy systems.

‘Across the world’s ocean, new marine autonomous systems are key to securing such technologies and minimising the threats facing them.

‘We need new and secure digital frameworks that allow multiple autonomous systems to work together to act as an effective deterrent, and we are excited to play a leading role in driving such innovations through this new consortium’.

The project is designing a reference architecture and a test and reference environment for a mission network that leverages both crewed and uncrewed systems above, on and below the water.

The mission network will facilitate rapid and secure information exchange, and integration across domains, supporting combined operations between all branches of the military.

The outcome is expected to become a new standard for NATO.

The project is part of NATO's Digital Ocean and Antisubmarine Warfare Barrier Smart Defence Initiative.

It is sponsored by 12 different nations led by the UK, together with Sweden, the US, Australia, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway.

Together they have committed to adopting the standard developed through this project.