The Arctic region has emerged as a renewed area of strategic competition in recent years between the United States and Russia. In addition, China has also been making its presence known as well. Global warming and climate change has opened up the Arctic sea lanes, exposed minerals for exploitation, and provides access to oil and gas reserves. The Arctic is more than a region with ice and snow. Over 4 million people from eight countries live above the Arctic circle. In addition, it has become a platform for military power projection.
In 2009 the US Geological Survey estimated that the Arctic held 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of the world’s natural gas. These valuable resources will be very strategic in the coming decades as the current oil and gas fields become fully exploited. Other minerals exist as well and are exposing themselves as the ice cap melts away.
Ice Melts and Sea Lanes Open Up
The map above (courtesy of the CIA) depicts in purple the sea lanes in the Arctic region. There are two principle routes – one named the Northern Sea Route traversing from the Cape of Scandinavia along the Russian northern coast and finally exiting in the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska. The second route – named the Northwest Passage – begins in the waters between Canada and Greenland, follows the Canadian northern coast, and exits between the United States (Alaska) and Russia in the Bering Strait.
The Northwest Passage is estimated to be open from 2-3 months per year during the summer while the Northern Sea Route is open about 4-5 months per year. Nations are now taking advantage of the Arctic sea lanes due to the shorter time of voyage when compared to other maritime routes. This is one of the primary reasons for China’s interest in the Arctic region. As global warming continues it is projected that the sea lanes will open up for even longer periods of time. This would be especially true with the assistance of ice breaker ships. Freedom of navigation in the Arctic has become an important issue for nations with a lot of maritime traffic.
Russian and Chinese Cooperation
Russia views the Arctic region as its backyard. As a Eurasian country it feels that it has the authority to gatekeep military, commerical, and scientific passage and activity. Over the past decade Russia has been revitalizing its military infrastructure and enhancing the support provided to its Northern Fleet located along the Kola Peninsula. At the other end of Russia is the port of Vladivostok, home to Russia’s Pacific Fleet. Russia is also stepping up its extraction of resources and building facilities above the Arctic circle for scientific and commericial use. Some of the sites could easily become “dual-use” – of value to military activities.
China views itself as a “near-Arctic” power and casts its role as beneficial to the smaller countries that border the Arctic Circle – ensuring access to more than the countries of United States and Russia. It also is establishing scientific and commercial activities in the Arctic region. China has adopted the “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative. China is working closely with Russia as well as the Nordic countries in joint Arctic commercial enterprises.
United States Arctic Strategy
The U.S. government has noticed the renewed interest of Russia and China in the Arctic region. It is currently taken steps to “catch up” to the advances that its two near-peer competitors have taken in the “High North”. New polar ice breakers are on order – the U.S. ice breaker fleet is a shadow of the ice breaker fleet that Russia has deployed in the Arctic.
In October 2022 the Biden administration released the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. This document (PDF, 15 pgs) outlines the vision for the U.S. in “four mutually reinforcing pillars spanning both domestic and international issues.”
The U.S. military is giving the Arctic region more attention than it has in the past. In June 2024 the Department of Defense released its 2024 Arctic Strategy. This document (PDF, 28 pgs) is a guide for the DoD for developing “a concerted approach to preserve the Arctic as a stable region in which the U.S. homeland remains secure and vital national interests are guarded.” The DoD also has an office to ensure U.S. strategy and policy protects U.S. interests in the Arctic. The organization is known as the DoD Arctic Strategy and Global Resilience Office.
Image: U.S. Army.
An earlier publication published by the U.S. Army in January 2021 entitled Regaining Arctic Dominance (PDF, 54 pgs) provided direction on how the Army will “man, train, equip, and organize to win in the Arctic”. One of the initiatives outlined in the document is the refocus of the Alaskan-based brigade combat team to the Arctic region. In May 2022 the 11th Airborne Division was reactivated in Alaska.
SOF in the Arctic
The U.S. special operations community has increased its attention and activity level in the Arctic. Much of this engagement is in the form of exercises – whether on U.S soil or in the “High North” of Europe. Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) and Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) conduct numerous exercises with joint U.S. units and foreign SOF units.
Image: SOF winter warfare training above the Arctic Circle, Kiruna, Sweden. (Photo from SOCEUR video by SPC Liem Huynh, February 24, 2018).
Recent special operations forces exercises include ARCTIC EDGE 25 and ARCTIC EDGE 24 led by SOCNORTH. An exercise by SOCEUR entitled Adamant Serpent 26 was recently held in Sweden and Norway in conjunction with Norwegian and Swedish SOF units. SOCEUR also, like SOCNORTH, is in the lead with many exercises conducted in the “High North”.
The Way Ahead
The new era of strategic competition has found its way into the Arctic region. Shipping lanes are open much longer, gas and oil fields are now accessible, and military power projection all point to the Arctic as an area of competition between the United States, Russia, and China. The U.S. military must be able to ensure that Russia and China do not interfere with navigation, sovereignty rights, or the ability to project power into the Arctic as well as protect the homeland.
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Maps. Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
References:
“Arctic Security”, National-Security.info. This resource is a product of SOF News. The webpage links to over 30 news articles and documents concerning Arctic security – many of them SOF related.
https://www.national-security.info/topics/arctic-security.html
