According to The Sacramento Bee, the Pentagon is devising plans to lay about $40 million underwater fiber-optic cable from Guantanamo Bay to South Florida because of the military’s preparations for detonations and other operations at the Navy base for the long term.
Navy Capt. Kirk Hibbert stated: “It only makes sense to do if we’re going to be here for any period of time”.
American military notified the Cuban military to expect the USNS Zeus surveyor ship which will be the first step of the project.
The U.S. will update the current system they use with a more reliable one.
The Pentagon could not disclose the location where the cable would likely come ashore in South Florida after passing through the Windward Passage east of Cuba and emerging from the Atlantic Ocean.
An official added that the project could be easy to install and that the 600-nautical-mile link could be accomplished in six months.
The only place where the cable might be susceptible to sabotage is in shallow water, where it emerges to link to a land station. The rest of the cable would be deep underwater and in case of a malfunction or a cut in the cable, a repair boat could reel it back out and reconnect it.
[mappress]
Subsea World News Staff , July 06, 2012