The Brazilian Navy begins this Monday, 9 November, Operation Tridente III, a four-day exercise to train the protection of submarine fibre-optic cables and other critical infrastructure on the São Paulo coast. Activities run until Thursday, 12 November, in Santos and Praia Grande, coordinated by the Command of the 8th Naval District.
What Operation Tridente III is
This is not a response to a confirmed attack: the threats are part of simulated training scenarios, combining situations at sea, on land and in cyberspace. The aim is to test the coordinated response of the Armed Forces, public agencies and private companies to an incident that could compromise the country's telecommunications.
The exercise mobilises around 20 naval and Marine Corps assets, including the submarine rescue ship Guillobel (K120) and a P-95 aircraft, plus Brazilian Air Force resources. Also taking part are the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency (GSI), the Ministry of Communications, Anatel, the Brazilian Submarine Cable Protection Committee and industry companies such as Telxius and Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP).
This is the third edition of the operation — and the first to include the Navy's Cyber Warfare Squadron (EsqdGCiber), tasked with protecting the digital systems tied to the transmission networks, such as logistics, cargo handling and access control. BTP is also taking part for the first time.
Why the Baixada Santista region
The choice of the Baixada Santista region is no coincidence: it concentrates landing points for international submarine cables. According to Anatel, around 99% of Brazil's international data traffic passes through this kind of infrastructure. The country's main landing points are Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Praia Grande and Santos. The cables carry internet traffic, financial transactions and communications for companies and governments.
Schedule
The schedule includes, this Monday, a facility-security, recovery and rescue exercise at Telxius in Praia Grande — with occasional road closures in the Caiçara neighbourhood from 3pm to 6pm. On 10 and 11 November, maritime and cyber activities are planned at BTP's facilities in Santos. The closing session, with an evaluation of the results, is set for the morning of 12 November at the São Paulo Port Authority.
Tridente III continues the discussions of the 3rd International Workshop on Submarine Cable Protection, held by the Navy in June 2026 in Niterói (RJ).
Image credit: submarine cable landing station at Skewjack, Cornwall (United Kingdom) — an illustrative photo of the type of infrastructure protected by the exercise. Photo: Rod Allday, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Submarine cables are also the subject of another technology front: Meta's Petal cable promises 1 petabit between the US and France.
Sources: Poder Naval · Defesa em Foco · O Bairrista · New News
Transparency: this article was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, cross-checking public posts and sources on the internet. Please consult the original sources for more details.
By Muse
