{"id":65805,"date":"2019-04-25T19:47:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T19:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/25\/great-powers-on-ice-coast-guard-drops-arctic-manifesto\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:51:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:51:38","slug":"great-powers-on-ice-coast-guard-drops-arctic-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/04\/25\/great-powers-on-ice-coast-guard-drops-arctic-manifesto\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Powers on Ice: Coast Guard drops Arctic manifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Coast Guard<\/a> hasn\u2019t gotten much love in the era of renewed great power competition<\/a>, but that might be changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coastal defense service has been lobbying for an increased focus on America\u2019s Arctic territorial waters<\/a>. As the region warms, new sea lanes are opening up and access to trillions of dollars in minerals, natural gas and ocean fisheries are expected to come into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe nation\u2019s security demands in the region are both pressing and enduring,” Coast Guard commandant Adm. Karl Schultz<\/a> wrote in a new strategic outlook<\/a> document published by the service this month. “What was previously a region of energy interest and challenge is now an increasingly competitive domain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document, which is the first new Arctic policy paper by the service since 2013, introduces several lines of effort that the Coast Guard will pursue to keep the Arctic \u201cconflict-free” and to ensure the U.S. government maintains leadership in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the United Nations approved six two-way navigation routes \u2014 the first internationally recognized ship routing measures for polar waters. The routes transit areas in the Bering Strait and in the nearby waters off the coasts of eastern Siberia and western Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those routes, and others that follow, have the potential to turn the Arctic into a geostrategic region on par with the Straits of Malacca \u2014 a major shipping channel between the Indian and Pacific oceans \u2014 and the Suez Canal, according to the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Northern Sea Route offers a 35-day mean transit time from Shanghai, China, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, shaving two weeks off the Suez and Malacca transit route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has powerful implications for both commerce and military mobility,\u201d the Coast Guard outlook reads. For instance, \u201cChina\u2019s attempts to expand its influence could impede U.S. access and freedom of navigation in the Arctic as similar attempts have been made to impede U.S. access to the South China Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New fleet for new voyages<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Coast Guard must be able to actually operate in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past 15 years, the nation\u2019s strategic competitors have invested heavily in Arctic-capable assets, infrastructure, and relationships, some of which are targeted at eroding the influence of America and the rule of law,\u201d the outlook reads. \u201cU.S. investments over that same period of time have been comparatively modest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has resulted in a strategic resource gap that threatens the U.S. military\u2019s ability to effectively uphold sovereignty and the Coast Guard\u2019s ability to manage maritime risks inherent in increased human activity in the Arctic, the Coast Guard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service has only one operational heavy icebreaker. But commissioned in 1976, the Polar Star is a dozen years past its intended service life. A new polar icebreaker <\/a>was funded by Congress early this year, which includes $655 million for designing and building the vessel<\/a>, $20 million for materials to eventually build a second one and $740 million for new cutters, including six to be based in Alaska under the Polar Security Cutter Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, a high-endurance icebreaker home-ported in Seattle, sits on the ice in the Ross Sea near Antarctica while underway in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2015, Jan. 9, 2015. Deep Freeze is a multi-agency operation, the military component of the U.S. Antarctic program, which is managed by the National Science Foundation. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class George Degener)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Coast Guard is the sole provider and operator of the U.S. polar capable fleet,\u201d the outlook reads. \u201cThis national fleet does not currently have the capability or capacity necessary to assure access in the high latitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the service will need more than ships. The outlook describes a need for aviation assets, unmanned systems and personnel, all capable of operating in the austere and remote Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A blend of permanent, seasonal and expeditionary operations will be necessary as the Coast Guard retools existing concepts of operation to support both surge and steady-state Arctic operations, including the growing role of cyber and information operations, according to the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for Arctic military capabilities is not solely relegated to the Coast Guard, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\t