{"id":32080,"date":"2020-05-12T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/12\/the-us-navy-returns-to-an-increasingly-militarized-arctic\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:40:42","slug":"the-us-navy-returns-to-an-increasingly-militarized-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/05\/12\/the-us-navy-returns-to-an-increasingly-militarized-arctic\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Navy returns to an increasingly militarized Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy\u2019s Barents Sea patrol is the latest sojourn into an increasingly militarized Arctic, where questions of international law are proliferating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy is making regular trips to the Arctic Circle<\/a>, with the four-ship patrol sailing in the Barents Sea. Three of the four ships, which sailed alongside the British Royal Navy frigate Kent, were destroyers based in Rota, Spain, as part of an operation spearheaded by the U.S. Navy\u2019s 6th Fleet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip into Russia\u2019s backyard was the latest in what the U.S. Navy has made clear will become a habit in the frigid waters of the Arctic. And that it was carried out by Europe-based destroyers could herald even more operations in the High North as the service plans to grow to six destroyers forward-deployed there from today\u2019s four<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patrol in the Barents Sea, much of which is part of Russia exclusive economic zone, follows high-profile patrols by the American aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in 2018 and a surface action group patrol in 2019. And while a Naval Forces Europe news release made clear Russia was given advance notice of the patrol to avoid confusion, the message is still pointed: The U.S. Navy is back in the Arctic Circle after being gone for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of the Barents Sea is an interesting one due to its operational significance to the Russian submarine fleet, which remains world-class even as much of its surface fleet degraded after the end of the Cold War, said Bryan Clark, a former U.S. submarine officer who is now a senior fellow with The Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Barents are an area where Russian submarines like to operate, and we\u2019ve kind of left [the area] alone for so long that it\u2019s become an extension of the areas they deploy that they see as their bastion,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThey monitor them closely, it\u2019s right offshore. They treat the Barents a little like we treat the VACAPES [Virginia Capes Operating Area off Norfolk, Virginia].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve left them alone for so long that they feel like the Barents, the Kara and the White Sea \u2014 they kind of see as a free zone for Russian submarine operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The U.S. Navy destroyers Porter and Donald Cook, right, replenish from the fast combat support ship Supply while operating above the Arctic Circle (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of the Royal Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clark said that by sending three destroyers equipped with sophisticated anti-submarine kit, the U.S. Navy is putting Russia on notice that the country doesn\u2019t have free reign over the Barents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy putting some ships up there, we\u2019re telling them: \u2018Well, no, this is not a free zone [for] submarine operations \u2014 these are international waters,\u2019 \u201d Clark said. \u201cIt would be a little like if the Russians deployed a bunch of anti-submarine warfare frigates in the VACAPES. We couldn\u2019t do anything about it, but it would put us on notice that we maybe needed to be a little more careful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Russia hasn\u2019t absorbed the renewed U.S. patrols quietly. On Friday, Russia announced a live-fire exercise in the Barents, presumably a response to the five-ship patrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A frozen flashpoint<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return of the U.S. Navy to the High North is part of a larger refocus of national attention to the Arctic, as warming waters and melting ice open more time-efficient shipping routes and give nations greater access to natural resources that may have once been cost-prohibitive to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia in particular has made clear to the international community that it has core economic interests there and will defend them, even building icebreakers with cruise missiles<\/a> and deck guns to patrol frozen waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia, with 7,000 miles of Arctic coast, sees the region as both a security liability and a key to its long-term economic success. Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017<\/a> put estimates of the mineral wealth in the region at $30 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a February hearing before the Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee, the State Department\u2019s deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, Michael Murphy, testified that Russia\u2019s military buildup in the Arctic threatens the United States\u2019 and NATO\u2019s northern flank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Russia has cooperated on oil spill response and search-and-rescue missions, the U.S. views the country\u2019s moves with suspicion, especially in the establishment of an Arctic base and the installation of coastal missile batteries, early warning radars and air defenses, Murphy said in testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Russian military buildup in the Arctic has implications beyond its waters,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a geostrategic perspective, the Arctic and the North Atlantic are inextricably linked. The Arctic provides Russian ships and submarines with access to a critical naval chokepoint: the GIUK gap that plays an outsized role in NATO\u2019s defense and deterrence strategy. Underwater trans-Atlantic cables<\/a> also run through this area.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn short, NATO\u2019s northern flank must once again command the attention of the United States and its allies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to its concerns for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which has become a flashpoint in Sino-U.S. relations, the U.S. is taking issue with Russia\u2019s attempt to force shippers to use Russian pilots and pay for use of the Northern Sea Route, which runs through Russia\u2019s exclusive economic zone. Russia has heavily invested in icebreakers to keep the Northern Sea Route open for as long as possible each year, and therefore the country views it as something of a toll road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRussia’s restrictions on the freedom of navigation in the Northern Sea Route are inconsistent with international law,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A Chinese cargo ship arrives at the haven of Rotterdam on Sept. 10, 2013. The Yong Sheng was the first commercial Chinese ship to transit through the Northern Sea Route, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by way of the Bering Strait and Russia’s northern coast. (Robin Utrecht\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The success of the Northern Sea Route \u2014 which has been among the things that has attracted China to the Arctic, as it seeks to find cheaper ways to get its goods to Europe \u2014 is in question, said Clark, the Hudson Institute analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Russians\u2019 argument is that if shippers get the benefit of a faster transit time in exchange for the Russian investment in icebreakers, they should pay a fee to use the NSR,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThe area where the Northern Sea Route runs is completely in Russia\u2019s exclusive economic zone; nobody is arguing about it being in their EEZ. So an argument could be made that it\u2019s Russia\u2019s place to create a route and try and monetize it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that the shipping traffic hasn\u2019t gone up dramatically, and that\u2019s due to the predictability aspect. The problem shippers face is they aren\u2019t going to use that route if it\u2019s unpredictable how long it takes,” he added. \u201cIf it takes 50 percent longer than expected because Russia has to go break ice, I\u2019m losing money, when I could have gone a more predictable route that took longer but I could predict my arrival time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shippers that miss their windows could have ships sitting offshore for days until another arrival window opens up and they can drop their goods on the pier. \u201cSo predictability is a bigger issue than speed,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether Russia is making a simple business play in its EEZ is a perspective that the U.S. Navy views with skepticism, given the other militarizing activities in the Arctic. The service also doesn\u2019t want to set a precedent for the creation of toll roads that could metastasize elsewhere, like the South China Sea, where China has claimed expansive maritime rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whither icebreakers?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if the U.S. wanted to challenge Russia\u2019s restrictions on freedom of navigation in the Northern Sea Route, it would be challenged to do so without a fleet of reliable icebreakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. would have to navigate often frozen waters, but imagines an embarrassing situation where a vessel sent to conduct a freedom-of-navigation operation breaks down or gets stuck in ice, former Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft said in a 2018 event at the Wilson Center<\/a>. The U.S would be left without a working icebreaker to go rescue it, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was the commandant, the National Security Council approached me and said: \u2018Hey, we ought to send the Polar Star through the Northern Sea Route and do a freedom of navigation exercise,\u2019 \u201d he recalled. \u201cI said: \u2018Au contraire, it\u2019s a 40-year-old ship. We\u2019re cannibalizing parts off its sister ship just to keep this thing running, and I can\u2019t guarantee you that it won\u2019t have a catastrophic engineering casualty as it\u2019s doing a freedom-of-navigation exercise, and now I\u2019ve got to call on Russia to pull me out of harm\u2019s way. So this is not the time to do it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard operates a single heavy icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, with a second, the Polar Sea, reserved as a parts locker for the former.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But help is on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of public cries for assistance from senior Coast Guard leaders, the military service embarked on a recapitalization program to field three heavy ice breakers and three medium-sized icebreakers \u2014 heavy and medium referring to the kinds of ice they can break and not necessarily the size of the ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2019, the Coast Guard announced it had signed a $746 million contract with VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Mississippi, for the detailed design and construction of its first polar security cutter \u2014 the first of the heavy icebreakers. And with the fiscal 2021 budget submission now before Congress, the Coast Guard says it can fully fund the second polar security cutter, according to a Congressional Research Service report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Contractors prepare to replace the 16-foot-diameter propellers on the Coast Guard cutter Polar Star.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To date, the Coast Guard and the Navy have put $1.2 billion into the Polar Security Cutter program, with another $555 million requested in 2021, according to the CRS report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some analysts, including the National Science Foundation and a recent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments study, the Coast Guard should do away with the medium icebreaker and instead focus on buying a fleet of four heavy icebreakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe design is different enough that the medium icebreaker ends up becoming a new start, and so you have two classes of ship where you may as well just have four heavy icebreakers,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThat should meet most of your needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting points north<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another issue with operating in the High North is the lack of any significant infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act directed the defense secretary to work with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration to submit a report to Congress that evaluates potential sites for a northern port. It then requires the defense secretary designate one or more of the sites as \u201cDepartment of Defense Strategic Arctic Ports\u201d within 90 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A U.S. port in the Arctic would serve as a counter to recent Russian activity there, including the construction of its \u201cNorthern Clover\u201d military base, which features missiles, radars and military personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But putting something in a place on Alaska\u2019s north slope, like Prudhoe Bay, could be ill-suited because melting permafrost will turn that area into a marshland, Clark said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the idea of putting a base up in the far north is a bad idea,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s too expensive, and then you\u2019ll build it and not be able to use it for a large part of the year. It becomes a white elephant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the U.S., aside from its concerns about freedom of navigation in the Northern Sea Route, it\u2019s focused on policing its exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has to have sufficient presence to enforce its EEZ so people don\u2019t come in there and extract minerals or fish or something without permission,\u201d Clark said. \u201cSo you have to have some [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities] up there \u2014 polar-orbiting satellites, and we\u2019ve advocated for more unmanned aerial vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then you\u2019ve got to have some mechanism to enforce it, so you do have to have enough Coast Guard vessels to go up there at the times that people would be doing some sort of resource exploitation to go interdict them. That is probably a couple of cutters up there in the summer months, and right now they are deploying from southern Alaska, and that\u2019s something like [an 800-mile] transit just to get to your deployment area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark offered an alternative option: \u201cWe should look at building another expeditionary mobile base to keep up there in the summer months to use as a forward-deployed support station that could provide [support] out of Nome, Alaska, or be maintained at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need some way of supporting cutters up there because there is nowhere to pull in or fly people off the ship if need be. Say you interdict an illegal fisher. Now you have to do something with them, so what do you do? Drive them back to Anchorage?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Oscar Austin transits the Arctic Circle on Sept. 5, 2017. Oscar Austin was on a routine deployment supporting U.S. national security interests in Europe, and increasing theater security cooperation and forward naval presence in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. (MC2 Ryan U. Kledzik\/U.S. Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Missing the point?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the U.S. Navy is back in the Arctic, the patrols it\u2019s been conducting may point more to America\u2019s capability shortfalls in the region than its strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The patrol in the Barents Sea is a good signal, said Jerry Hendrix, a retired U.S. Navy captain and an analyst with The Telemus Group, but the service should focus more on freedom of navigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn many ways I think it sent confusing signals,\u201d Hendrix said. \u201cThere are no significant disputes or territorial claims in the Barents Sea, and in many ways it may have just demonstrated that we don\u2019t have the fleet to do a freedom-of-navigation [operation] in the ice-laden Northern Sea Route.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the Northern Sea Route goes through Russia\u2019s EEZ, the U.S. would like that transit to remain free \u2014 a principle that the U.S. Navy struggles to uphold because none of its surface ships are ice-hardened, Hendrix said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The Russians are] treating the Northern Sea Route like it\u2019s the Mississippi [River],\u201d Hendrix said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re requiring that if you take your tanker through there, you have to have a Russian pilot and you have to be escorted by a Russian icebreaker. So in order to pass through, you have to pay the piper because this isn\u2019t the high seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, this route cuts two weeks off the transit time moving goods from Asia to Europe,\u201d he added. \u201cNorthern Sea Route is a coming thing. With the impact of climate change, this is going to be open more of the year. \u2026 But the U.S. Navy hasn\u2019t built a [surface] ship capable of operating around ice since [World War II].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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