During a panel discussion at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on September 17, General James Hecker, the US Air Force Commander in Europe and Africa, stated that NATO is contemplating the establishment of a combined air operations control center in the Arctic Region. Hecker noted that NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, supported the idea of establishing an air operations center in the Arctic.
Hecker said there are benefits from close cooperation between Arctic countries and the experience they share to implement this project. So, this knowledge will be used. He also said NATO will establish the third combined air operations center fairly soon.
The United States, Canada, and Finland announced on July 11 that they would establish a consortium to construct icebreakers in the Arctic. The consortium’s goal is to create an icebreaker fleet that will “project power in polar regions” and guarantee compliance with international norms and agreements.
NATO, while accusing Russia of militarizing the Arctic, has done so itself by bringing Sweden and Finland into the alliance. This has more than doubled NATO’s shared border with Russia from 1,215 to 2,600 km. In April 2024, Norwegian Armed Forces Commander General Eirik Kristoffersen expressed full commitment to NATO’s strategy under U.S. leadership, calling for “firmly deterring” Russia from attacking NATO in the Arctic.
According to Kristoffersen, if Moscow perceives the West as weak, “the Russians will try to take advantage.”
In 2022, Norway signed a defense cooperation agreement with the US. General Kristoffersen explained that this allows Americans to invest in Norway’s defense sector and use its bases for storing weapons and ammunition.
There are about 50 military infrastructure facilities of NATO countries are currently located in the Arctic. These include 22 airfields, 23 naval bases, stations, and four radar stations for monitoring space and Arctic airspace. There are plans to create a comprehensive network of eight radar stations in Norway. The first in this chain is scheduled to open in 2025. In February 2024, a satellite station is being discussed for the Andøya Air Base in northern Norway to support space infrastructure and enhance situational awareness. In March 2024, Norway decided to purchase next-generation high-tech radars, TPY-4.
The US is working to improve its infrastructure, including upgrading Eielson Air Base to function optimally in extreme cold; expanding Fort Greely, Fort Wainwright, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to increase the personnel of the newly-formed 11th Arctic Airborne Division from 12,000 to 20,000 troops.
A deep-water port is under construction in Nome, Alaska, and there are plans to upgrade Thule Air Base in Greenland to accommodate US strategic bombers.
In February 2024, an additional US agreement with Norway expanded the joint military presence. Agreements with Finland, Sweden, and Denmark have also been signed, granting access to several military bases and infrastructure facilities in these countries. The possibility of deploying missile defense systems in Finland and Sweden is under discussion, along with other plans to enhance NATO infrastructure protection in the Arctic.
The UK is actively preparing for military expansion in the Arctic. London has increased the scale and frequency of its special forces training in the Polar region, establishing a new Arctic operations base at Camp Viking, serving as a center for Royal Marines commandos. NATO’s largest exercise in the Arctic since 1988, “Steadfast Defender 2024,” involved over 90,000 soldiers from 31 countries and focused on developing military infrastructure. The UK accounted for 40% of the ground forces, with 20,000 British soldiers participating.
The UK established Camp Viking in northern Norway, using pre-existing infrastructure. The base is located 40 kilometers from Tromsø, Norway, and 700 kilometers from the Russian border. British forces also use Bardufoss Air Base, located nearby. The Royal Marines plan to use a nearby Norwegian port for landing operations and logistics development in the Arctic.
The UK has already increased its military contingent at Camp Viking to 1,000 Marines, and by early March 2023, conducted small Arctic exercises, later expanding the base’s staff to 4,000 soldiers.
Russia says it will respond to NATO’s military buildup in the Arctic with a range of measures, including preventive ones, based on the tasks outlined by President Vladimir Putin in the Foreign Policy Concept and Russia’s Arctic Development Strategy.
“The course of strengthening NATO’s military potential in this region, including through the accession of Finland and the expected inclusion of Sweden, indicates NATO’s preference for military scenarios to ensure its security in the northern latitudes at the expense of the security of other countries,” said Russian Foreign Ministry Special Envoy Nikolai Korchunov to RIA Novosti.
Earlier this summer, The New York Times spoke with military analysts who revealed that NATO is concerned about actions by the “modernized Russian Northern Fleet.” The paper reported that its ships could pass through the straits between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK, “to sever sea routes and undersea cables and threaten the US East Coast with cruise missiles.” This maneuver is called the “Red Right Hook” within NATO. The Northern Fleet includes the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles.
Robert Dalsjö, an analyst with the Swedish Defense Research Agency, considers this threat real but warns it might be exaggerated, especially in light of the conflict in Ukraine. As the article states, Russia is primarily a land power, and its Northern Fleet is “significantly smaller than during the Cold War.” “If they didn’t do it then with 150 ships, why would they do it now with 20?” Dalsjö remarked.
Experts from Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces Analytical Center believe that in the early stages of such a conflict, Russia would launch nuclear strikes on military targets in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and the UK to eliminate the threat posed by NATO’s long-range missiles to Russia’s Baltic and Northern fleets.
The territories of all these countries are so small that after nuclear strikes on their military targets, they would simply cease to exist.