UUV-THE RED SEA AND THE GULF OF ADEN JUST GOT A LOT MORE DANGEROUS

If you paid attention in twentieth century history class when the professor discussed the Battle of the North Atlantic, you may recall that crews on board UK-bound supply ships during the Second World War feared the Nazi
U-Boats and their silent delivery of torpedoes which sent many a mariner to Davy Jones' Locker. The very recent appearance and deployment, by the Houthi insurgency, of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), or underwater drone, may be a game-changer when it comes to risk assessments by owners and insurers of Europe-bound merchant shipping transiting the Gulf of Aden/Red Sea region.

Inasmuch as there have been CENTCOM press releases picturing seizures of UUV components from Iran, destined for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the origin of these weapons is not in doubt, and they add an additional layer of danger to those vessels at sea in the area, even if they are diverting around the Cape of Good Hope. A potent, and even intimidating, addition to Houthi cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles and aerial drones, all of which are currently active threats to shipping as well as warships seeking to protect shipping lanes, UUVs could scare shippers completely away from appoaching Suez altogether. Look at the Maersk route diversions on the company's website; how much of those are a response to new UUV threats, we wonder.

Of course, all these multiplying threats, which are clearly not being adequately met by Western military pushback, are just making the illicit business of trade-based money launderers easier to conduct, as all these violent threats have spawned a wide range of responses, none of which are uniform, and which therefore make identification of TBML extremely difficult by transaction monitors. It has gone from bad to worse, in my humble opinion. Whose Navy has an effective solution? Otherwise, it will continue to be Open Season for TBML.