ORCAS

Starting in 2026, Flanders will accelerate its investment in innovation related to security and defense. Under the Flemish Innovation and Industry Strategy for Security and Defense, the annual budget will grow from 15 million euros to nearly 50 million euros by 2029. The goal is clear: to strengthen the position of Flemish companies and research institutions within European and international value chains while simultaneously enhancing the protection of critical infrastructure. As part of this strategy, Flanders intends to launch flagship projects. The first of these is the ORCAS project, which focuses on securing undersea infrastructure in the North Sea.

The protection of underwater infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. Cables, pipelines, and offshore installations are essential for energy supply and connectivity, but they are vulnerable to sabotage, disruption, or accidents. Recent incidents in Europe demonstrate that there are still significant blind spots in the monitoring of activities below the water’s surface. ORCAS aims to address this gap by developing new technologies that provide a complete picture of what is happening underwater. The project focuses on detecting and interpreting anomalies around critical infrastructure such as power cables and foundations.

At the heart of ORCAS is the development of an integrated monitoring system that brings together various technologies. Underwater sensors, such as acoustic monitoring points and fiber-optic sensors, are combined with autonomous vessels and advanced data analysis. The system uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect and classify anomalous sounds and changes on the seafloor. In addition, autonomous vessels are deployed to quickly conduct follow-up inspections and investigate suspicious situations. This combination creates a proactive security system that not only detects incidents but can also respond more quickly.