In early December, the JEF Alliance will carry out an activity on surveillance and protection of critical submarine infrastructure.
On 28 November 2023, the JEF countries announced in a joint statement that they are activating the so-called JEF Response Option 3.2, which concerns the protection of subsea critical infrastructure. The JEF Response Option 3.2 means that the JEF cooperation is making an effort to strengthen the monitoring of subsea critical infrastructure in December. A multinational JEF effort will therefore take place in the Baltic Sea region at the beginning of December, with monitoring of subsea critical infrastructure and the participation of most of the countries in JEF cooperation.
This is a JEF-coordinated, but not JEF-led, activity and therefore there will be no transfer of command of units to JEF headquarters. During the period of the activity, Denmark will send situation reports from surveillance of Danish sea areas with subsea critical infrastructure to Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ), which is the British headquarters that runs JEF’s operations. The Danish effort will be made by the units that normally participate in maritime surveillance, e.g. patrol vessels and aircraft.
The Danish Defence wishes to support JEF cooperation gaining increased insight into how countries can cooperate on surveillance and protection of subsea critical infrastructure.
The Danish Armed Forces monitor shipping traffic in Danish waters. This is done as part of routine maritime surveillance and sovereignty enforcement. Monitoring of ship traffic in areas with subsea critical infrastructure is part of this monitoring.