{"id":70001,"date":"2019-05-06T19:14:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T19:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/06\/northcom-arctic-now-americas-first-line-of-defense\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:43:51","slug":"northcom-arctic-now-americas-first-line-of-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/05\/06\/northcom-arctic-now-americas-first-line-of-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"NORTHCOM: Arctic now America\u2019s \u2018first line of defense\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 In order to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/04\/25\/great-powers-on-ice-coast-guard-drops-arctic-manifesto\/?utm_source=Sailthru&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=ebb%2004.26.19&#038;utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief\" target=_blank>operate in the Arctic<\/a>, the U.S. military must spend more money on joint training and cold weather technology and more time on Alaska\u2019s ranges and working with Native American tribes, according to defense officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. defense officials announced at the Sea Air Space forum here on Monday that September Arctic sea ice is receding at a rate of roughly 13 percent per decade. That presents economic opportunities for nations with coastlines that hug the region but also competition from rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russian forces are projecting power within the Arctic, operating the world\u2019s largest icebreaker fleet while building out air bases, sea ports, weapons and domain awareness tools to operate there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China also has declared itself a \u201cnear-Arctic state&#8221; as it angles for a share of the trillions of dollars to be made off minerals, natural gas, ocean fisheries and trade routes in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m not sure that\u2019s even a defined term,\u201d U.S. Air Force <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/06\/29\/senate-confirms-new-military-commander-in-afghanistan-south-korean-ambassador\/\">Gen. Terrence O\u2019Shaughnessy<\/a> said of China\u2019s self-designated title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Shaughnessy, who helms both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2016\/04\/04\/the-pentagon-doesn-t-know-whos-in-charge-for-responding-to-a-massive-cyber-attack\/\">U.S. Northern Command<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/08\/11\/f-15cs-intercept-suicidal-pilot\/\"> North American Aerospace Defense Command<\/a>, said that enforcing a \u201crules-based international order\u201d is at the forefront of U.S. policy. But the security implications of a warming Arctic are clear: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/08\/27\/the-homeland-is-no-longer-a-sanctuary-amid-rising-near-peer-threats-northcom-commander-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. homeland is no longer a sanctuary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Arctic is the first line of defense,\u201d O\u2019Shaughnessy said.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link smg-interstitial-link--fallback wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/navy-league\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__fallback-link\">Click here for more stories, videos and interviews from Sea-Air-Space!<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the U.S. Coast Guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/27\/navsea-up-to-19-billion-contract-for-coast-guards-new-icebreaker-fleet\/\" target=_blank>continues to invest in a new icebreaker fleet<\/a>, defense officials say more must be done to cement America\u2019s place in the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Exercises like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/10\/24\/heavy-seas-damage-navy-ship-near-iceland\/\" target=_blank>NATO\u2019s Trident Juncture<\/a> \u2014 involving 50,000 troops, 150 aircraft, 65 ships and 10,000 vehicles \u2014 gave a taste of the frigid challenges the alliance would face should a northern member, like Norway, be invaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During that autumn training operation, the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman became the first U.S. Navy flattop in nearly three decades to sail north of the Arctic Circle for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Waging war in the Arctic will also require troops capable of conducting mountain terrain analysis, cold-weather operations, land navigation in the alpine wilderness and rock climbing, among other skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aircraft crews will need to understand and prepare for cold-weather flight, not to mention the strain that ice, cold and high latitudes put on airframes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the armed forces must collaborate with those who have lived in the region for generations \u2014 especially the Alaska Federation of Natives, or AFN, the largest statewide Native organization, according to O\u2019Shaughnessy and other defense leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need them. I need to tap into that local knowledge,&#8221; said Navy Rear Adm. John Okon, commander of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLeveraging indigenous people\u2019s knowledge to operate up there is critical for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/45683515462_951a25e7ec_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">German soldiers board a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter during cold-weather training in support of Exercise Trident Juncture 18 in Dalsbygda, Norway, Nov. 1, 2018. (Cpl. David Delgadillo\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Native Alaskans have an acute understanding of ice-flow, melting conditions and shifting weather patterns, Okon said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tapping into that knowledge will be critical because the region remains an operational enigma for much of the military, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okon warned that the state of weather observation in the Arctic today is comparable to that across the continental United States during World War I. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re a hundred years behind understanding the conditions of where we\u2019ll have to defend the homeland and our partners,\u201d Okon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While computer models can map weather patterns, the military needs to make those models reliable by collecting detailed observations at sites across the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re operating in the blind,&#8221; Okon said, and that\u2019s a problem because the \u201cArctic is harsher than any other place on Earth, under, on or above the sea.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Temporal conditions make predicting weather tricky and the lack of accurate navigation charts complicate operations even more, he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"7114\" height=\"4742\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg 7114w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Arc3.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 7114px) 100vw, 7114px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Russian military&#8217;s Pansyr-S1 air defense system fires at a practice target during a Wednesday military drill on Kotelny Island. (Vladimir Isachenkov\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">American efforts to shore up decades of Arctic inattention come amid growing Russian influence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moscow\u2019s forces already operate across the Bering Strait at Kotelny Island\u2019s Northern Clover military base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The installation brims with coastal defense missile systems and a cold-weather version of Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russian forces are preparing to monitor airspace and secure the Northern Sea Route, which has the potential to turn the Arctic into a geostrategic thoroughfare on par with the Strait of Malacca \u2014 a major shipping channel connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans \u2014 and the Suez Canal, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials said that Pentagon planners contemplating 21st century operations in the Arctic must confront challenges unique to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, while America\u2019s military embraces autonomous vehicles, those systems are limited in the Arctic by a lack of persistent operations and high costs to create and maintain them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New technology deployed to the region must be reliable, affordable and allow for persistent operations, they said, but a major limitation remains the duration of battery power in cold conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New business opportunities in the Arctic also invite new strategic competition, U.S. defense officials 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NORTHCOM: Arctic now America\u2019s \u2018first line of defense\u2019 - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New business opportunities in the Arctic also invite new strategic competition, U.S. defense officials say.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NORTHCOM: Arctic now America\u2019s \u2018first line of defense\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New business opportunities in the Arctic also invite new strategic competition, U.S. defense officials say.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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