WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department should invest more in improving sensors, communications and space technologies in the Arctic to keep pace with China and Russia, which are increasingly active there, including in joint military exercises, according to a new Pentagon strategy.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters Monday that this is “a critical time” for the Arctic. She said climate change, increased adversary activity and deteriorating U.S. infrastructure are forcing the department to rethink how to keep the Arctic safe and how to properly equip and protect troops.
The Arctic strategy is not very specific, but broadly it calls for more spending on high-tech sensor and radar systems, a range of military equipment, and continued investment in Pituffik Space Base, the U.S. Space Force base in the northwest corner of Greenland. And it relies on growing partnerships with Canada and a number of NATO allies in the north.
Defense Department leaders have warned for more than a decade that the U.S. must ramp up its activities in the Arctic to better compete with China and Russia as climate change makes the frigid region more accessible.
But the remote northern plains pose a host of challenges, including the need for deep-water ports, weapons, drones and equipment that can withstand the climate, and additional ships that can brave the cold waters and break through the ice.
The US is also struggling with Cold War-era defense and State Department infrastructure deteriorating due to the cold weather and coastal erosion.
The cold and increasingly unpredictable weather also limits military training and affects equipment. And the region, which has limited satellite coverage, requires a much more extensive array of sensors for communications and military awareness.
“Slowly but surely, there’s been a greater awakening in the department,” said Iris Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Arctic. “Now we’re getting to the heart of how you implement a strategy.”
The report noted that the Arctic is “warming more than three times faster than the rest of the world” and could see its first “virtually ice-free summer” by 2030. As the ice melts, increased traffic, the report said, will increase the risks of accidents, miscalculations and environmental degradation.
Hicks could not quantify Russia and China’s increased activity in the region, but she called the growing cooperation between the two troubling. In 2022 and 2023, they conducted joint military exercises off the coast of Alaska.
Meanwhile, melting ice caps are opening up longer stretches of sea routes each year, making lucrative oil and gas supplies more accessible. And China has provided Russia with crucial funding for energy exploration.
China has also increased its own activity in the region, including through its three icebreakers that conduct civil-military research in the region. According to the report, Chinese ships have tested underwater drones and aircraft suitable for polar research.
Russia, which has the largest territory in the Arctic and the most developed military presence there, including key strategic nuclear capabilities such as its ballistic missile submarine launcher.
The strategy says the department will consider options for better sensors and new space-based missile warning and observation systems with greater Arctic coverage in the future. Insufficient investment in Arctic early warning and air defense sensors will increase risks to the U.S. homeland, the report warns.