[bell-cot]

> They can field more "research" vessels than...

Back during the cold war, there was very often a Soviet "fishing boat" trailing after any substantial US Navy fleet. Said fishing boat may have had far more antennas than any fisherman would expect, but far less interest in catching fish.

Fast forward - what would be the cost of having cheap western drones hanging around nearby, when suspected Russian assets were close to undersea cables, pipelines, and such?

[XorNot]

Fuel costs I suspect, which is where those continuous flight high altitude solar powered planes NASA was experimenting with really come into play.

That said, satellite tracking shipping is pretty easy - It's interdicting ina timely fashion which is not.

[bell-cot]

Agreed that interdicting - if that means a naval or coast guard ship, or a submarine - is far more difficult and expensive.

But cheap drones can transmit "don't do that!" warnings. And also video footage of the situation. Which would seriously change both the maritime law and political situations.

[mrguyorama]

>Fast forward - what would be the cost of having cheap western drones hanging around nearby, when suspected Russian assets were close to undersea cables, pipelines, and such?

If the suspicion is high enough, it's pretty standard for a US submarine or surface group to shadow whatever it is. It's free practice for the submarine crew.

This happened when the Russian ships visited cuba earlier this year.