Documents viewed by reveal that Alphabet’s Google and SUBCO are quietly connecting Australia's AUKUS submarine fleet base, and the area around it, to three powerful undersea cables. HMAS Stirling, a naval base located on Australia's western coast, will be home to four Virginia submarines under U.S. command from 2027. This will place the U.S. Navy at the edge of the Indian Ocean as Washington and Canberra increase surveillance on Chinese submarine activity. Google and SUBCO plan to build superfast cables that will span the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Asia and connect Australia's west and east coasts. These cables are expected to land near or at HMAS Stirling. This puts the base in the middle of an expanding network, as Australia's Military seeks to strengthen its digital resilience.

SUBCO has said that a new high capacity cable connecting Australia's west and east coasts will include an extension to HMAS Stirling. However, public materials only mention the landing in Perth City, 60 km north.

Bevan Slattery, the founder of SUBCO, said that the new routes are crucial to the delivery of capacity and resilience needed not only as a hub for Australia's AI but also the region. SUBCO completed the first Australia-Oman Cable in 2022, which was reported to have been partially funded by the Pentagon. It included a "secret branch" to the joint U.S. and UK air base Diego Garcia.

STRATEGIC AVANTAGES Google plans to install a cable to the remote Australian outpost on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, as well as another across the Indian Ocean, to Africa. Both cables are scheduled to land at Madora Bay, near the HMAS Stirling Naval Base.

Google's spokesperson declined to provide any further information, but said that the landing facility would be located "inland in an Industrial Zone".

Google's application for an environmental permit for a cable connecting the United States to Australia's east coastline cites the "geostrategic changes in the Indo-Pacific" and the decision of the Quad diplomatic group, which includes Australia, Japan, and India, to invest in submarine cables. Last week, it was reported that Google is planning to build a large data center on Christmas Island. Military experts believe this will give them a strategic advantage in operating autonomous systems and drones. China's Foreign Ministry said that it was unaware of the issue.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority responded to questions regarding the plans by saying that it did not know of any existing cable at Madora Bay.

Better Resilience Around 1,000 U.S. Navy Personnel are expected to move to Rockingham and Mandurah, where HMAS Stirling is based, from next year in order to support the nuclear submarines.

Sam Bashfield is an expert on maritime security and the Indian Ocean from La Trobe University. He said that military networks need high-speed connectivity, not only between military bases but also with allies, and diplomatic networks.

Vice Admiral Mark Hammond of Australia's Navy said last week that Australia's seabed cables were its lifeline, but also its biggest vulnerability. He cited the increasing number of cable sabotage incidents worldwide.

Bashfield said that building more cables across the oceans, where there were historically few, will improve resilience.

A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water confirmed that Australia's environmental regulator had suspended the assessment of Google's Western Australian cable. The suspension was made to "consider matters of national environmental importance, including threatened and migrating marine species", according to the spokesperson.

Google has said that it will "comply" with all environmental regulations. (Reporting and editing by Kirstyn Needham, Sydney; Saad Sayeed).

(source: Reuters)