Arctic Allies Old and New
Air University
The Intellectual and Leadership-Development Center of the Air and Space Forces. (Unofficial Account)
By: Douglas Peifer Professor, Air War College
Regional Security Studies – Scandinavia Lead Instructor
Disclaimer: The opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed or implied within this article are solely those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the views of the Air War College, the Air University, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Defense, or any other U.S. government agency.
The Arctic has become hot. In a literal sense, the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe, the permanent ice cap is receding, and the Northern Sea Route is projected to become a viable commercial shipping lane by mid-century. In a figurative sense, the Arctic has become a hot item for the Department of Defense and all the services. The DoD issued its first Arctic Strategy in November 2013, updated this strategy in 2016 and 2019, and plans to release new Arctic Strategy in 2024. ?Each service has issued its own Arctic strategy, with the Air Force leading in 2020, the Army issuing Regaining Arctic Dominance in 2021, and the Navy publishing Strategic Blueprint for the Arctic in 2021. In 2023, the Coast Guard published an implementation plan explaining how it aimed to accomplish its 2019 Vision for the Arctic Region.
All of these strategies point to the importance of allies and partners in the region as Russia and China challenge the rules based international order globally and in the Arctic. ?The Air Force asserts that alliances and partnerships “represent a key strategic advantage for the United States in the Arctic” (USAF Arctic Strategy, p.11). At the time of publication, four of the seven Arctic nations were NATO members. Since then, Finland and Sweden have joined NATO. This is a welcome development, providing a critical advantage to the United States in the Arctic and High North.
For over three decades, the Air War College has incorporated a regional studies program into its residential core curriculum. For two months, students learn about a specific region from one of the college’s regional experts, studying its history, learning about its political structure, parties, and arrangements, examining its economy, and analyzing diplomatic initiatives, strategies, and military capabilities. Transitioning from the classroom, the seminar and faculty then visit the region to interact directly with our partners. Given DoD and Air Force priorities, this Spring one of the Air War College’s Regional Security Studies seminars did a deep dive into the interests, capabilities, and perspectives on two of our partners in the Arctic.
Norway and Sweden were selected because they provide a compelling case study in the changing security picture in Europe’s High North. Norway, as a founding member of NATO, has a long and deep security relationship with the United States. Sweden, as NATO’s newest member, pursued a policy of armed neutrality during the Cold War. Until 2022, polls indicated that most Swedes preferred to remain outside the alliance and had confidence in their policy of armed neutrality. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine alarmed the Swedish public and their leaders, resulting in a reassessment of its security policy culminating in full NATO membership in 2024.
This year, nine Air War College students and three members of the faculty had the opportunity interact onsite with our Norwegian and Swedish allies. In Trondheim region, the group visited the Norwegian Air Force’s main operating base at ?rland. The Norwegian government decided to replace its F-16s with F-35s in 2008, and has poured resources into developing the infrastructure to support and maintain the fleet of 52 cutting edge fifth generation fighters it ordered. The benefits of common equipment go beyond interoperability, as US and Norwegian officers discussed missions, maintenance, and operations drawing upon shared training, techniques, and procedures.
The group explored another dimension to the US-Norwegian partnership by visiting the vast caves dug into Norway’s mountains to store prepositioned material. If the F-35s epitomize the close relationship between the US and Norwegian air forces, the Marine Corps Prepositioned Program-Norway (MCPP-N) illustrates another dimension to that relationship. Since the 1980s, the Marines have prepositioned material in Norway. When the United States contemplated drawing down its stockpiles of prepositioned materials in Norway following the end of the Cold War, the Norwegians enticed the US to keep a footprint in Norway by offering to pay for the maintenance of the climate-controlled cave system as well Marine Corps equipment stored there but available for use globally. Among the equipment stored are cold weather gear, rations, and materials suitable for operations in the Arctic. Renewed US interest and great power competition in the Arctic mean that this prepositioning program, along with exercises such as Nordic Response 2024, support US and Allied interests in the Arctic and High North.
Moving on to Sweden, the Air War College group visited Sweden’s enormous iron ore mine located ninety miles north of the Arctic circle in Kiruna. The Kiruna iron ore mine supplied the Third Reich with essential metals in World War II, with Allied and German concerns about raw materials transforming Norway into a theater of war in 1940.
Competition about resources in the Arctic region now takes a different form, focusing more on the gas and petroleum deposits under the North, Norwegian, and Barents Sea than on the iron ore in Kiruna. But metals remain important, and the rich deposits of metals at Kiruna include raw earth materials eagerly sought by the US, Europe, Russia, and China. In addition to a well-trained and equipped military, our newest NATO ally Sweden, has rich mineral deposits that preclude China monopolizing rare earth metals essential to the next generation of technology.
Seven nations have territories and economic exclusion zones in the Arctic. Six of these are NATO allies. Understanding what they bring to bear in terms of military capabilities, geographic location, and economic resources is important. ?Understanding their interests, Arctic strategies, and perspectives is essential. The Air War College Regional Security Studies course and field study to Europe’s High North answers the call to educate future leaders on the United States’ key advantage in the Arctic – its allies and partners.
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领英推荐
US Department of Defense Announces New Arctic Strategy in Early 2024, High North News (October 2023)
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PhD, (Author, Blood Money: How Criminals, Militias, Rebels and Warlords Finance Violence), Connecting stakeholders with AU expertise to work the DAF and DoD's wicked problems.
9 个月Another RSS response was published today in WBY, this time from a student on the other half of the world: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Wild-Blue-Yonder/Article-Display/Article/3787671/tunisias-water-insecurity-a-threat-to-us-national-security/
Grateful to be a studenpocket? Air University, as I have my original form. If allowed, I would like to contribute. Whom would be the best poc?