China Develops Cutter for Deep Sea Cables

China has presented a device capable of cutting reinforced undersea cables at a depth of up to 4000 meters. This is the first time such technologies have been disclosed publicly. A photo of the cutter was published by the South China Morning Post.

The device can be used with both manned and unmanned underwater vehicles. The development was carried out by the China Ship Scientific Research Center in cooperation with the State Deep Sea Manned Submarine Laboratory. The cutter is designed for armored cables protected by layers of steel, rubber and polymers - these are the lines that provide 95% of global data transmission.