The Silent War Beneath the Strait of Hormuz

This Insight by Dr Tughral Yamin, “The Silent War Beneath the Strait of Hormuz,” examines the growing importance of autonomous underwater vehicles in the strategic contest over the Strait of Hormuz. It explores Iran’s disputed claims of capturing US underwater vehicles, the evolving role of AUVs in seabed surveillance, mine warfare, intelligence collection and underwater infrastructure monitoring, and the technological challenges of detecting such systems. The analysis also highlights the emerging competition between underwater surveillance and counter-surveillance. The insight alludes to subsurface water domain as a new, largely invisible, battlespace.