{"id":421344,"date":"2026-01-14T19:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=421344"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:48:48","slug":"a-speculation-on-military-risk-with-offshore-wind-ai-submarines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=421344","title":{"rendered":"A speculation on military risk with offshore wind \u2014 AI Submarines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Offshore<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By David Wojick<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has paused offshore wind construction citing potential threats with these facilities to national security. There is little on the nature of these threats. Having done what, the Navy calls vulnerability assessment of naval bases, I have taken my own whack at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My speculative candidate for a really big threat is an autonomous submarine armed with torpedoes or cruise missiles hiding among the giant monopiles. Call it an AI Sub. There is a lot of talk about radar interference, but I am thinking sonar. Spotting this sub with sonar in a big offshore wind facility might be very difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My example is the Dominion Virginia project, for two reasons. First, it lies just off the world\u2019s biggest naval base at Norfolk. This is an obvious target. Second, I have studied this wind facility more than any other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dominion facility is just under 200 square miles covered with about 180 monster monopiles supporting the huge wind towers. Each monopile is a steel tube about 30\u2032 in diameter and extends from the sea floor to the surface. That is a lot of underwater steel spread over a large area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My conjecture is that sonar will not work well in this forest of giant steel tubes, if at all. Surely the acoustic signal will be heavily scattered. Given that the AI Sub is unmanned, it can be very small, perhaps not much larger than the weapons it carries. It could even stand on end right next to a monopile. There may also be sonar stealth materials available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonar detection of AI Subs might well be impossible. An alternative technology would be a swarm of much smaller AI Drone Subs that attacked and blew themselves up when they reached their targets. These could be even harder to detect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting AI Subs to the offshore wind site could be simple. There are major shipping lanes right next door. In fact, several had to be shifted to make room for the site. A properly configured freighter could drop off the subs as it slowly passed in the night. Thus, their propulsion requirements might be small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norfolk home ports a reported 75 warships, including a whopping four aircraft carriers. Successfully attacking this concentration would certainly be a blow to naval operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that I am not saying this threat is likely. Likelihood is the topic of threat assessments. Vulnerability assessments look for worst case plausible scenarios without regard to likelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AI Sub threat is certainly plausible. The U.S. Navy and China have both conducted drone sub research and development. See, for example, here for more information<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not know what plausible targets lie off of the other offshore wind sites, but no doubt there are some. This includes civilian sites as well as military. Civilian targets might range from interstate bridges to entire cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is up to the Trump administration to carefully assess the threat of tiny AI Subs hiding among the massive steel monopiles of offshore wind facilities. Results might range from banning facilities in certain areas to developing detection and defense systems where development is allowed, if that happens. In some cases, the monopiles are already there. Perhaps they should be removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the AI Sub threat is clearly far greater than the threat of radar clutter. It needs to be taken very seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has paused offshore wind construction citing potential threats with these facilities to national security. There is little on the nature of these threats. Having done what, the Navy calls vulnerability assessment of naval bases, I have taken my own whack at it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":421348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the potential military risks of offshore wind farms, including the threat of AI submarines lurking among giant monopiles.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Assessing AI Submarine Threats in Offshore Wind Projects","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvQVFNTUd3Z3R6NG94UHpFeGZ3LXFXLXRXS0tpWUI3TDE4YkxHVHRwZ2Q3RmI3SkdScHp6VEFBc2ZrU19rMGdpSmc4YThwUjF3VUZCZ2VhMmZIX3U0VTNCV1hPN1RkcGpELXNlR3JpYmVqMmxyakhiLU02S1RfemhfVGcwNEtXX2ZzeFNsSkc2OHdpRkU2QXliOEZaTFhBQTNRNjRpaVEtMTAyNHgxMDI0LmpwZWciLCJ0eHQiOiJBIHNwZWN1bGF0aW9uIG9uIG1pbGl0YXJ5IHJpc2sgd2l0aCBvZmZzaG9yZSB3aW5kIFx1MjAxNCBBSSBTdWJtYXJpbmVzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.rew5tHCb5MrDFR0fpw37A7K9f3MTkWKPND7eG5LedpQMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691840719,691840718,691818301,691840717,691831504],"class_list":["post-421344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ai-sub-threat","tag-dominion-virginia-project","tag-offshore-wind","tag-radar-interference","tag-trump-administration","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMMGwgtz4oxPzExfw-qW-tWKKiYB7L18bLGTtpgd7Fb7JGRpzzTAAsfkS_k0giJg8a8pR1wUFBgea2fH_u4U3BWXO7TdpjD-seGribej2lrjHb-M6KT_zh_Tg04KW_fsxSlJG68wiFE6Ayb8FZLXAA3Q64iiQ.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1LBS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":359769,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=359769","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":0},"title":"My 41 wind-threatens-whales articles track federal deception","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/30\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A New Years\u2019s retrospective. Many of these 41 CFACT articles were sent to key NOAA whale protection people when published over a period of 2.5 years. All have been carefully ignored, an ongoing deception. Trump has promised action.","rel":"","context":"In \"California offshore wind\"","block_context":{"text":"California offshore wind","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=california-offshore-wind"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0offshore-wind-turbines-calm-water-dense-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0offshore-wind-turbines-calm-water-dense-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0offshore-wind-turbines-calm-water-dense-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0offshore-wind-turbines-calm-water-dense-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0offshore-wind-turbines-calm-water-dense-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":371825,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371825","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":1},"title":"Offshore wind construction is ignoring President Trump","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/25\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"President Trump\u2019s Day one Executive Order (EO) on wind power is a clear threat to the offshore wind projects that are under construction, but they seem to be ignoring this threat. I find no evidence that they are disclosing this threat to the public or their stockholders.","rel":"","context":"In \"Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)\"","block_context":{"text":"Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=coastal-virginia-offshore-wind-cvow"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Offshore-wind-in-rows.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Offshore-wind-in-rows.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Offshore-wind-in-rows.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Offshore-wind-in-rows.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Offshore-wind-in-rows.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":365182,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365182","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":2},"title":"Whales and Offshore Wind: Trump Time (Wojick has built a case)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The all-of-government approach to climate by Podesta-Biden-Harris covers the science agencies too. Climate hype, all the time, as well as nonstop cheerleading toward politically correct, economically incorrect government-enabled energies. It is now time for reversal, including with environmental issues concerning dilute, intermittent, fragile, and invasive wind and solar.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate hype\"","block_context":{"text":"climate hype","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-hype"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0whale-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0whale-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0whale-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0whale-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":393330,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=393330","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":3},"title":"Offshore wind whale deaths indicated by statistical analysis","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Three environmental groups have formally petitioned NOAA to revoke its prior marine mammal harassment authorizations citing new science that harassment can be deadly. The specific target of the petition is the Empire Wind project, but the grounds given clearly apply to all offshore wind development.","rel":"","context":"In \"Dominion project\"","block_context":{"text":"Dominion project","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=dominion-project"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQOA4U_gffnvLB3cPoKROQ6q415p5gvCo3j9f9wX9BZp4VXs4ApvyLt_L9efmpA8KZ7Nbzz-0nzhNCYaxucTWTpRcSI-TLTgdUiWPjGVHMxGG564FRi6XX2oanT5ITwthzqIDJRafO0itnez4DXtAdYWBeS2dQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQOA4U_gffnvLB3cPoKROQ6q415p5gvCo3j9f9wX9BZp4VXs4ApvyLt_L9efmpA8KZ7Nbzz-0nzhNCYaxucTWTpRcSI-TLTgdUiWPjGVHMxGG564FRi6XX2oanT5ITwthzqIDJRafO0itnez4DXtAdYWBeS2dQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQOA4U_gffnvLB3cPoKROQ6q415p5gvCo3j9f9wX9BZp4VXs4ApvyLt_L9efmpA8KZ7Nbzz-0nzhNCYaxucTWTpRcSI-TLTgdUiWPjGVHMxGG564FRi6XX2oanT5ITwthzqIDJRafO0itnez4DXtAdYWBeS2dQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQOA4U_gffnvLB3cPoKROQ6q415p5gvCo3j9f9wX9BZp4VXs4ApvyLt_L9efmpA8KZ7Nbzz-0nzhNCYaxucTWTpRcSI-TLTgdUiWPjGVHMxGG564FRi6XX2oanT5ITwthzqIDJRafO0itnez4DXtAdYWBeS2dQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQOA4U_gffnvLB3cPoKROQ6q415p5gvCo3j9f9wX9BZp4VXs4ApvyLt_L9efmpA8KZ7Nbzz-0nzhNCYaxucTWTpRcSI-TLTgdUiWPjGVHMxGG564FRi6XX2oanT5ITwthzqIDJRafO0itnez4DXtAdYWBeS2dQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":401959,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=401959","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":4},"title":"Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said offshore wind farms have no future in the U.S. under Trump administration","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/13\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Department of the Interior is \u201ctaking a deep look\u201d at five offshore wind farms that are under construction in the U.S., Burgum said Wednesday without naming the projects.","rel":"","context":"In \"CNBC\"","block_context":{"text":"CNBC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=cnbc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMKsuaxrduVHdJL5uLNKDXVLQLGgxH0cilE-ahkMpOZ-lVsxiTg29A80SFYD44_Qa26aAoMP8ClYsmcdMwlfrETpx_Fv_t-Etb_i4VDXW5lUPmTGfDbV6g9r2oneNev-4gU6HnXnUwSMH56dv2nYh-nH36iYg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMKsuaxrduVHdJL5uLNKDXVLQLGgxH0cilE-ahkMpOZ-lVsxiTg29A80SFYD44_Qa26aAoMP8ClYsmcdMwlfrETpx_Fv_t-Etb_i4VDXW5lUPmTGfDbV6g9r2oneNev-4gU6HnXnUwSMH56dv2nYh-nH36iYg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMKsuaxrduVHdJL5uLNKDXVLQLGgxH0cilE-ahkMpOZ-lVsxiTg29A80SFYD44_Qa26aAoMP8ClYsmcdMwlfrETpx_Fv_t-Etb_i4VDXW5lUPmTGfDbV6g9r2oneNev-4gU6HnXnUwSMH56dv2nYh-nH36iYg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMKsuaxrduVHdJL5uLNKDXVLQLGgxH0cilE-ahkMpOZ-lVsxiTg29A80SFYD44_Qa26aAoMP8ClYsmcdMwlfrETpx_Fv_t-Etb_i4VDXW5lUPmTGfDbV6g9r2oneNev-4gU6HnXnUwSMH56dv2nYh-nH36iYg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMKsuaxrduVHdJL5uLNKDXVLQLGgxH0cilE-ahkMpOZ-lVsxiTg29A80SFYD44_Qa26aAoMP8ClYsmcdMwlfrETpx_Fv_t-Etb_i4VDXW5lUPmTGfDbV6g9r2oneNev-4gU6HnXnUwSMH56dv2nYh-nH36iYg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":376205,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=376205","url_meta":{"origin":421344,"position":5},"title":"Secretary Burgum: If offshore wind is wrong for New York, it is also wrong for Virginia!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/24\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Citing President Trump\u2019s\u00a0executive order\u00a0restricting offshore wind and a defective permitting process implemented by the Biden administration, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum\u00a0issued an order\u00a0on April 16 for the developers of the Empire offshore wind project to immediately stop construction.","rel":"","context":"In \"Coastal\u00a0Virginia\u00a0Offshore Wind (CVOW)\"","block_context":{"text":"Coastal\u00a0Virginia\u00a0Offshore Wind (CVOW)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=coastal-virginia-offshore-wind-cvow-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Offshore-wind-red-silhouette.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Offshore-wind-red-silhouette.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Offshore-wind-red-silhouette.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Offshore-wind-red-silhouette.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Offshore-wind-red-silhouette.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=421344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421350,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421344\/revisions\/421350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/421348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=421344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=421344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=421344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}