Multimillion-pound plans for technology needed to defend the UK’s undersea cables and pipelines have been set out by defence chiefs.

The Atlantic Bastion programme, announced as part of the Strategic Defence Review, will combine autonomous vehicles and AI with warships and aircraft to identify threats to underwater structure and to defend them.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was “in direct response to a resurgence in Russian submarine and underwater activity”, including the spy ship Yantar, which was tracked around UK waters last month.

The project has attracted a combined investment of £14m from the MoD and industry this year, with hopes the technology can be deployed next year.

A total of 26 firms from the UK and Europe have submitted proposals for the project.

Last week Defence Secretary John Healey visited Portsmouth Naval Base to examine some of the early technology which could be used as part of Atlantic Bastion.

It included the SG-1 Fathom, an underwater glider; Rattler, an unmanned remote-controlled boat; a model of an autonomous anti-submarine helicopter called Proteus; and an uncrewed experimental submarine called Excalibur.

Read More: UK unveils undersea military technology to defend against Russian threats