Defending Canadian Arctic Sovereignty

[Cloud Cover]

Only in Russia and China.

 

[MarkOttawa]

The Arctic and US Navy/Coast Guard (Northwest Passage?) and USAF (North Warning System):

1) Navy (note speaker):

Navy May Deploy Surface Ships to Arctic This Summer as Shipping Lanes Open Up

The Navy may follow up October’s carrier strike group operations in the Arctic with another foray into the icy High North, with leadership considering sending a group of ships into a trans-Arctic shipping lane this summer, the Navy secretary said.

Much has been made of potential Arctic shipping lanes opening up as ice melts and more areas become navigable. An expected uptick in commercial shipping and tourism in the Arctic region has put some urgency on the U.S. Coast Guard’s plans to build a fleet of icebreakers, as well as the Navy’s interest in having a more visible presence in the region.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said this morning at a Center for a New American Security event that the Navy has been in the Arctic regularly since the 1960s, but most of that presence has been with submarines or patrol aircraft rather than with warships on the sea.

With three potential trans-Arctic routes potentially opening up, he said, the Navy’s discussion about Arctic presence has changed dramatically in the past two years.

“As an example, this summer, the [chief of naval operations] and I have talked about having some ships make the transit in the Arctic. It’s going to be a multi-service task – I think you’ll see the Coast Guard involved. We’re just fleshing it out right now. But what is the purpose of that? We have to learn what it’s like to operate in that environment,” he said.

Spencer said the Ticonderoga-class cruisers were the last class of Navy ships to be designed with steam systems to remove ice from the ship, and that newer classes are not ice-hardened or equipped with systems to remove ice.

When the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group operated north of the Arctic Circle for several weeks this fall, the carrier itself handled the environment well, but its smaller escort ships and the supply ships the carrier relied on had a tougher time in the high sea states and icy waters. Similarly, when the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group sailed from Iceland to Norway in October, the larger amphibious assault ship made the journey safely, but the smaller dock landing ship was damaged in heavy seas and had to turn back.

Though the Navy is currently capable of meeting the Joint Staff’s requirements for Arctic operations, Spencer said, “is that requirement a full requirement? I think we can do more. We’re starting to do more in the Navy as we flesh it out.”

“A strategic port up in the Bering [Sea] area is being explored, but that would be a whole-of-government approach: that would be Coast Guard, Navy and [Department of] Commerce in that regard. But it’s an area we have to focus on, most definitely,” the secretary continued.

..."freedom of navigation should be plied up there. We’re going to try to do it,” he said. “We’re going to learn our way.”
https://news.usni.org/2019/01/08/navy-may-deploy-surface-ships-arctic-summer-shipping-lanes-open

2) USAF (note co-authors):

Air power and the Arctic: The importance of projecting strength in the north

The U.S. Air Force has been flying over the Arctic for more than a half century. Often forgotten, the United States’ first-ever mass airlift and aerial bombing campaigns were conducted there during World War II’s Thousand-Mile War along a remote chain of Alaskan islands.

Almost a decade before the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands, Gen. Billy Mitchell advocated building airfields, telling Congress: “Whoever holds Alaska will hold the world.” Even then, the Arctic was strategically important, and Mitchell’s words underscored the role of air power in the region, where minimal infrastructure and extreme climate severely limit how militaries can operate.

Fast forward 75 years, and the Arctic has become even more important to the nation. Both a northern approach to the United States, as well as a critical location for projecting American power, its geo-strategic significance is difficult to overstate. Key defense assets dot the landscape. The Air Force operates most of our Arctic locations — from fighter and tanker bases to space-tracking systems and radar sites that detect aircraft and missiles coming over the poles.

One way to view the region’s growing importance: By 2022, Alaska will be home to more advanced fighter jets than any place on Earth.

...Russia is securing its economic interests in the north, which makes up about 20 percent of its gross domestic product, and is rebuilding its military presence in the region. China considers the Arctic as part of its Belt and Road Initiative and is establishing a presence through economic leverage with other Arctic nations.

Responding to these changes in June, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis stated: “America’s got to up its game in the Arctic.” The Air Force is now developing a comprehensive Arctic strategic vision, ensuring our ability to fulfill the objectives of the new U.S. National Defense Strategy. We must be ready to defend our security interests and deter aggression by major powers.

The Air Force is exploring ways to modernize our more than 50 radars, many co-managed with Canada, that cross the top of North America and form an essential part of protecting the U.S. and Canada from missile and bomber attacks [emphasis added]. Northern bases are key staging locations, allowing aircraft to quickly reach any location in the Northern Hemisphere. The Air Force also recently upgraded critical space-surveillance assets in Thule, Greenland, the northernmost U.S. base in the world. Meanwhile we continue to train and equip for cold weather operations, managing the Defense Department’s oldest polar survival school and retaining the capacity to land on ice with unique, ski-equipped aircraft.

Completing these missions is not without challenges. The region poses difficulties with extreme cold and unpredictable weather, short construction seasons, and extended periods of darkness, in addition to aurora and space weather phenomena that inhibit radio and satellite communication.

These demands make the Arctic a region where alliances and partnerships are all the more vital. In addition to our enduring partnership with Canada, the Air Force is looking at opportunities to expand relationships with other Arctic allies — especially through exercises [emphasis added] — by sharing weather, communications and reconnaissance data, as well as trading operational best practices...

Heather Wilson is the secretary of the U.S. Air Force and Gen. David Goldfein is the service’s chief of staff.
https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/01/09/air-power-and-the-arctic-the-importance-of-projecting-strength-in-the-north/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

USCG taking steps to improve search and rescue for vessels in Arctic waters--trust CCG, RCAF (JRCCs) will have access to any needed data:

USCG Arctic Satellites aim to Add Margin of Safety

The U.S. Coast Guard’s mission of keeping the seas safe will soon get an additional boost from space with two polar satellites. The two satellites, called “cube satellites” or “cubesats” for their small size of about 60 square centimeters, or a little under 2 feet, will be part of a payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Nov. 28. Although the Coast Guard has used satellite technology for years, these two are the first to be entirely dedicated to a Coast Guard mission. 

The initiative is part of the U.S. Homeland Security’s Polar Scout program, which aims to increase technical resources in the Arctic to detect emergency position indicating radio beacons, or EPIRBs, sent from mariners in distress in that region. The project will also be a test to explore the effectiveness of using the cubesats, which are less expensive than other forms of technology, for these and other missions.

The service will also gain two ground stations to monitor and control the satellites as they orbit the planet over the poles every 100 minutes or so. One ground station has already been completed in Fairbanks, Alaska. Another is planned for construction before the end of the year atop Smith Hall at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. 

The increasing sophistication of technology, along with the ever-shrinking size of electronics, has made it possible for cubesats to do the job that once was performed by much larger and much more expensive satellites, said U.S. Coast Guard LCRD Grant Wyman. He is the project manager for the initiative at the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center in New London, Conn. 

“It’s really expensive to build, launch and maintain a satellite, but the technology advancements that have occurred in recent years have begun to reduce those costs,” said  Wyman.  He explained that the two cubesats, named Yukon and Kodiak, would orbit in “low Earth orbit” of between 690 and 1000 kilometers, or about 428 to 621 miles.

The Arctic is a high-priority area for the Coast Guard, Wyman said, as commercial shipping and even cruise traffic increases in previously inaccessible areas as the ice melts with climate change.  Yet the area is still an extreme environment even in the warmer months, with harsh weather, cold temperatures, and emergent areas of  navigation.

The diminutive satellites will likely have some company as they are launched into orbit; the Spaceflight rocket that will launch the cubesats for the Coast Guard will have a payload of more than 70 other satellites for 35 different organizations. The mission has thus been dubbed the SmallSat Express for the variety and number of spacecraft involved, the most launched from any U.S. spaceship. This high-tech form of ridesharing has a positive upside: the more organizations and governments launching on the same rocket, the more the venture can potentially lower the cost of entry into space for all.

The reduced cost of the cubesats – and the construction of a ground station at the Coast Guard Academy – will also have an impact across the board on the education of Coast Guard cadets, for which the Academy has been preparing for the last five years, said Dr. Lorraine Allen, associate professor of physics at the Academy...
https://www.marinelink.com/news/uscg-arctic-satellites-aim-add-margin-461930

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

At last for USCG with Trump signing bill--meanwhile CCGS Diefenbaker off somewhere in late 2020s never never land:

Coast Guard Secures $655 Million for Polar Security Cutters in New Budget Deal

The Coast Guard’s long-sought heavy icebreaker, the Polar Security Cutter, was among the programs to receive funding when Congress passed a spending package on late Thursday.

The Coast Guard is receiving $655 million to start construction on the lead ship for a new class of Polar Security Cutter and is receiving an addition $20 million to purchase long-lead-time materials for a second heavy icebreaker, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations bill, Congressional staffers told USNI News.

Last summer, the Senate had agreed to appropriate $755 million for the Polar Security Cutter. The House of Representatives, though, instead provided DHS with $5 billion to build a wall along the border with Mexico while canceling funding for a variety of programs including the Polar Security Cutter.

“With the support of the administration and Congress, we plan to build a new fleet of six polar icebreakers – at least three of which must be heavy icebreakers – and we need the first new Polar Security Cutter immediately to meet America’s needs in the Arctic,” read a statement from the service provided to USNI News. “The United States is an Arctic nation with extensive national and global responsibilities. Our role in the Arctic is growing. Diminishing Arctic sea ice is expanding access to the region and attracting attention from both partner and rival states across the globe. Resource extraction, fisheries, tourism and commercial shipping, in conjunction with traditional Alaska native activities, are driving increased maritime activity and a greater need for Coast Guard presence in the region. America’s only heavy icebreaker, the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, is more than 40 years old and must be replaced by the new Polar Security Cutter.”

The Coast Guard has for several years pushed for funding the ice breaker program. Currently, the Coast Guard has only one operational heavy icebreaker, USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10), commissioned in 1976. A second icebreaker, USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB-11) has not been operational since a 2010 engine failure [emphasis added] and instead has for nearly a decade served as a parts donor to keep Polar Star running, USNI News reported in 2017...
https://news.usni.org/2019/02/15/polar_security_cutter_coast_guard

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

USCG bids for lead Arctic role, note references to NORAD, NORTHCOM. Almost no mention of Canada, could find only one of CCG (top p. 21 PDF); no reference to NW Passage:

Document: Coast Guard Arctic Strategic Outlook
...
From the report

The United States is an Arctic Nation, and the United States Coast Guard has served as the lead federal agency for homeland security, safety, and environmental stewardship in the Arctic region for over 150 years. Since Revenue Cutters first sailed to Alaska in 1867 to establish U.S. sovereignty, the Service’s role has expanded, including representing American interests as a leader in the international bodies governing navigation, search and rescue, vessel safety, fisheries enforcement, and pollution response across the entire Arctic. As the region continues to open and strategic competition drives more actors to look to the Arctic for economic and geopolitical advantages, the demand for Coast Guard leadership and presence will continue to grow.

Since the release of the Coast Guard Arctic Strategy in 2013, the resurgence of nation-state competition has coincided with dramatic changes in the physical environment of the Arctic, which has elevated the region’s prominence as a strategically competitive space. America’s two nearest-peer powers, Russia and China, have both declared the region a national priority and made corresponding investments in capability and capacity to expand their influence in the region. Russia and China’s persistent challenges to the rules-based international order around the globe cause concern of similar infringement to the continued peaceful stability of the Arctic region. As the only U.S. Service that combines both military and civil authorities, the Coast Guard is uniquely suited to address the interjurisdictional challenges of today’s strategic environment by modeling acceptable behavior, building regional capacity, and strengthening organizations that foster transparency and good governance across the Arctic.

The Arctic’s role in geostrategic competition is growing, in large part because reductions in permanent sea ice have exposed coastal borders and facilitated increased human and economic activity. The warming of the Arctic has led to longer and larger windows of reduced ice conditions. From 2006 to 2018, satellite imagery observed the 12 lowest Arctic ice extents on record.1 This has led to greater access through Arctic shipping routes. While the near-term future of these routes is uncertain, a polar route has the potential to reduce transit times of traditional shipping routes by up to two weeks. Russia’s establishment of a Northern Sea Route Administration, along with the use of high ice-class Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tankers built specifically to export natural gas from its Yamal LNG facility, have contributed significantly to the increase in commercial shipping traffic in the Arctic. In addition, opportunities for potential resource extraction and expanding Arctic tourism offer new prospects for some of the Nation’s most isolated communities and broader benefits to America. However, changing terrain and subsistence food patterns, as well as the impacts of increasingly frequent and intense winter storms, continue to challenge the communities and increase risk in the maritime domain...
https://news.usni.org/2019/04/22/document-coast-guard-arctic-strategic-outlook

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Journeyman]

An interesting article from the New York Times.  It is variously alarmist, suggesting that Spetz'Naz troops could soon be walking into Canada, and realistic, in that the cold is likely the greatest obstacle to be addressed in any arctic conflict (various 'retreats from Moscow'... or Stalingrad... suggest that it's not just the arctic where Canada may need some additional efforts)

The attached is only part of the article, which is available here.  In the highlighted bit, I can't help but think that our MND is experimenting with pharmaceuticals or preparing for a second career in stand-up comedy.

Helene Cooper, The New York Times
Military Drills in Arctic Aim to Counter Russia, but the First Mission Is to Battle the Cold

RESOLUTE BAY, Canada — After finishing a training drill on surviving the bitter cold, the soldiers gathered around Ranger Debbie Iqaluk to hear about an inescapable fact of life in the high Arctic: The ice is melting despite the frigid temperatures.

And that means the Russians are coming.  [Comment: Ok, ok, hyperbole sells newspapers;  I'm also sure that several readers are scratching their heads at a Ranger named "Debbie"  ]

NATO is rushing to try to catch up. Last month, hundreds of troops from member countries and partners, including France, Norway, Finland and Sweden, joined Canadian soldiers, reservists and rangers for the Nanook-Nunalivut exercises that aimed in part to help alliance forces match Russian readiness in extreme-cold climes. (The United States sent observers but no troops this year.)

Twenty percent of Russia’s gross domestic product is pulled from the Arctic, whether in minerals or through its shipping lanes. It is far ahead of North America when it comes to maneuvering in the region; by comparison, less than 1 percent of the United States’ economic output is derived from the Arctic.

Russia has also expanded its fleet of icebreaker ships to more than 40 (the United States has only two that are operational) and reopened military bases in the Arctic that were shut down after the end of the Cold War. Two months ago, a top Russian lawmaker told a state-run news agency that Russian special forces were training for a potential conflict in the Arctic.

At a meeting on Tuesday of the International Arctic Forum, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia outlined an ambitious program, including new ports and infrastructure, to further cement Russia’s standing in the region. “We don’t see a single matter that requires NATO’s attention” in the Arctic, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia said at the same event.

In a telephone interview, Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan of Canada made clear that the alliance had no intention of ceding the icy expanse. “We want Russia to know what our capabilities are,” Mr. Sajjan said. “It prevents them from doing more aggressive things.”

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Well apparently back in the cold war Soviet 5.56x39 was found on the shore of a remote bit of Alaska, so possibility they have done so in the past.

 

[Good2Golf]

Well apparently back in the cold war Soviet 5.56x39 was found on the shore of a remote bit of Alaska, so possibility they have done so in the past.

Any of that, or any 7.62x39 found near Lady Franklin Point on Victoria Island, NWT around the 2000 timeframe?

 

[Czech_pivo]

Any of that, or any 7.62x39 found near Lady Franklin Point on Victoria Island, NWT around the 2000 timeframe?

Before or after the facilities there almost burned to the ground?

 

[Czech_pivo]

Any of that, or any 7.62x39 found near Lady Franklin Point on Victoria Island, NWT around the 2000 timeframe?

Found this article from the CBC going back a few years ago.  Might find this interesting....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/soviets-familiar-with-canada-s-arctic-waters-1.1001748

 

[Good2Golf]

Before or after the facilities there almost burned to the ground?

...”on, or around” 10 Jan 2000... :nod:

 

[QV]

"Defending Canadian Arctic Sovereignty"... with what?!?

 

[Colin Parkinson]

7.62x39 surplus was available commercially back then, I don't believe 5.45x39 was available and even if it was, firearms using it were not for sale in Canada and very rare in the US. SKS's are common and shoot 7.62x39, so unless you have an interesting headstamp it's likely some local shooting seals with one. 

 

[MarkOttawa]

Further to this post on USCG's "Arctic Strategic Outlook",
https://milnet.ca/forums/threads/16198/post-1569359.html#msg1569359

cool-looking new icebreaker:

VT Halter Marine to Build New Coast Guard Icebreaker

VT Halter Marine Inc. has been awarded a $745M detailed design and construction contract for the Coast Guard’s next-generation heavy icebreaker, according to a Tuesday Pentagon contract announcement.

According to the announcement, the first-in-class ship will be built at the company’s Pascagoula, Miss. shipyard and is scheduled to deliver in 2024.

“The initial award is valued at $745.9 million and supports non-recurring engineering and detail design of the PSC class as well as procurement of long lead-time materials and construction of the first ship,” read a statement from the Coast Guard and Naval Sea Systems Command. “The contract also includes options for the construction of two additional PSCs. If all options are exercised, the total contract value is $1.9 billion.”

The yet-to-be-named Polar Security Cutter will be the first of a planned class of six icebreakers – three heavy and three medium – the Coast Guard says it needs to meet the minimum requirements for the U.S. mission in the Arctic.

“Against the backdrop of great power competition, the Polar Security Cutter is key to our nation’s presence in the polar regions,” Coast Guard commandant Adm. Karl Schultz, said in a Tuesday statement. “With the strong support of both the Trump Administration and the United States Congress, this contract award marks an important step towards building the nation’s full complement of six polar icebreakers to meet the unique mission demands that have emerged from increased commerce, tourism, research, and international activities in the Arctic and Antarctic.”

VT Halter Marine beat out Gulf Coast shipbuilder Bollinger and a team between Philly Shipyard of Philadelphia and Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin, according to a report in The Associated Press. General Dynamics’ NASSCO shipyard had previously expressed interest in the work but did not submit a bid for the final work, USNI News understands.

The contract award follows the release of a request for proposals from the Coast Guard and the Navy last year for the new ships.

The Coast Guard received $655 million in Fiscal Year 2019 for the first hull and an additional $20 million for the second ship in the class. The service requested $35 million in the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget request for program management costs to keep the line going between new ships.

The development of the Polar Security Cutter is the furthest the Coast Guard has progressed in its long-voiced request to replace its decades-old pair of icebreakers.

Currently, the service has two icebreakers, heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10), commissioned in 1976, and medium icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) that was commissioned in 1999.

The service’s new Arctic Strategic Outlook, released this week, stressed the services need to recapitalize its Arctic ships and aircraft to keep pace with Russian and Chinese icebreaker developments. The Russian has a fleet of 14 icebreakers.

“The Coast Guard cannot meet the challenges of tomorrow’s Arctic with today’s paradigms. Rapid technological advancements within the maritime industry, combined with robust investments by strategic competitors, have raised the stakes,” reads the document. “The service must take this opportunity to leverage transformative technology and lead the employment of innovative policies to solve complex problems.”

The development of the design will be jointly overseen by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command and the Coast Guard.

“This contract award reflects the great benefit achieved by integrating the incredible talents of U.S. Coast Guard and Navy acquisition and shipbuilding professionals to deliver best value at speed,” said James Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition in a statement...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/23/vt-halter-marine-to-build-new-coast-guard-icebreaker

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

This could get a lot of people's knickers in big knots, note NW Passage:

U.S. Navy plans to be more active in the Arctic

The U.S. Navy is increasing its presence in the Arctic, and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said he’d like to send a ship through the Northwest Passage this summer.

“We’re still exploring to see if we could do a full passage. There’s still ice up there in some places,” Spencer told a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee this week.

If the voyage happens, it would be a freedom-of-navigation exercise. That’s a way the U.S. asserts itself and its maritime rights in an area. Spencer said he wants to do more of them in the Arctic [emphasis added]...
http://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2019/05/03/navy-usa-arctic-alaska-spencer-geopolitics/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Gets even better

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/chinese-military-expanding-reach-into-arctic-region-pentagon-fears-it-will-deploy-nuclear-armed-submarines?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&fbclid=IwAR1zRY2H9G5yciZSHW8ZwUZwD-fU7_wIV_SS3-11e4Ucmh8ivETBTl36tQs#Echobox=1556904142

 

[Stoker]

Gets even better

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/chinese-military-expanding-reach-into-arctic-region-pentagon-fears-it-will-deploy-nuclear-armed-submarines?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&fbclid=IwAR1zRY2H9G5yciZSHW8ZwUZwD-fU7_wIV_SS3-11e4Ucmh8ivETBTl36tQs#Echobox=1556904142

Perhaps the dragon will negate the bear.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

More likely they work together, China does not have the Arctic friendly resources to maintain a presence in the Arctic, but has the money, Russia has the Arctic friendly resources, but not the money.

 

[The Bread Guy]

More likely they work together ...

Zackly ...

"China and Russia want to develop Arctic energy resources together, and US disapproval may not deter them -- Donald Gasper says China has helped to finance Russia’s quest to develop Arctic resources after US sanctions, and deeper involvement may follow if Beijing can acquire a management role ..." (South China Morning Post)

 

[Stoker]

More likely they work together, China does not have the Arctic friendly resources to maintain a presence in the Arctic, but has the money, Russia has the Arctic friendly resources, but not the money.

I think that's great, two countries working together developing resources. Perhaps we could hire China to manage ours.