Command

Free

N e w s N e t wo r k
Issue 6 The Headlines of Today. The Battles of Tomorrow. Est – 2016

Frozen wealth sparks

Russian Oscar II submarine Belgorod, converted for special missions.

In the 21st century a new bat- In 2007 a Russian deep-diving militarisation of the Polar region headlines might claim. Even in
tleground is emerging, as major minisub planted the Russian flag as nations seek to boost and re- the 1950s, the Arctic was the ex-
powers race to exploit new re- on the seabed directly under- inforce their capabilities in this pected route over which Soviet
source discoveries in the Polar neath the North Pole – a piece frozen sphere of rivalry. bombers would attack the US
region of the high Arctic. Could of propaganda that loudly tel- (and vice versa) – necessitating
economic rivalry and territo- egraphed Moscow’s intentions Old setting, new (in NORAD’s case) construction
rial claims over perhaps the last towards the Arctic – rapidly motivations of a chain of airbases, long-
great untouched natural mineral growing into an area of economic range radar and early warning
wealth one day spill over into and strategic importance. Since The setting of the Arctic north
open conflict? then there has been a creeping is perhaps not as new as some Continued on page 2 è
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Iceland’s Strategic Location in the North Atlantic.

stations in Canada, Alaska and continental shelves hold vast Second, is that mining and that were previously judged to
in Greenland. and diverse untapped mineral oilfield technology has now be too difficult or too costly to
Additionally, the North Pole resources. Estimates from sci- advanced to the point where ex- extract, can now be harvested,
and the study of its ice packs entific bodies and government traction of these resources, while changing the economic viability.
became vital knowledge for sub- agencies predict that the Arctic still expensive, is economically Third, is that shrinkage of
marine warfare in the Cold War, may have 22% of the worlds oil feasible. For instance, seabed Arctic pack ice due to climate
allowing nuclear submarines to and 25% of its gas deposits. In drilling, remote UUVs (un- change, now means that previ-
hide from air and surface war- addition, raw minerals such as manned underwater vehicles) ously hard-to-reach areas are
ships. In the event of WW3, a key copper, iron, nickel, cobalt, titani- and longer-ranged helicopters to becoming uncovered, making
task for NATO submarines would um, rare metals are also present service remote platforms mean resource extraction easier and
have been to have hunted Soviet in large quantities. that oil, gas or other minerals less expensive. The shrinkage of
missile boats underneath the
ice, before they could find clear
water (or thin ice to surface) to
fire nuclear ballistic missiles at
their targets.
An expected Soviet inva-
sion of Norway and the critical
GIUK (Greenland-Iceland-UK)
gap which Russian submarines
would have to pass to get to US
convoys reinforcing Western
Europe meant that Arctic winter
warfare on NATO’s Northern
Flank was an expected part of
any large scale conflict between
the Warsaw Pact and NATO.
However, today, the impor-
tance of the Artic (and the mili-
tarisation of it) has shifted from
a WW3 sideshow to potentially,
a raison d’être of conflict itself.
This has been driven by several
factors.
First is the knowledge that
the Arctic seabed and nearby Russian TOR-M2DT Arctic short-range air defense missile system.
 3

“ Today, the importance of the Artic

”
from a WW3 sideshow to potentially, Get your copy at
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a raison d’être of conflict itself.
You need the Command
Arctic ice is also opening up new submit) claims based on their
trade and shipping routes across polar continental shelf. The vast base game to play
the top of the world, saving untapped wealth (estimated at Pole Positions.
time and hundreds of miles. For £23 trillion) of the Arctic is also
example, the fabled ice-bound attracting other nations such as
Northwest Passage, which links China, keen to grab a share of the
the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans action in this new ‘great game’.
was successfully transited by a
bulk carrier in 2013 and a luxury Power plays
cruise liner in 2016. These new Leading the militarisation of the the high Arctic, including 13 air- military equipment for use in
shipping lanes, then have the po- Arctic has been Russia, which fields, ten radar stations and new Arctic warfare. The traditional
tential to become valuable trade has perceived that military force deep-water ports. May Day parade in 2017 saw
routes, or conversely geopolitical backing up its claims to mineral- In 2014, Moscow also an- Artic versions of the Tor-M2DT
choke points. rich resources sitting on its door- nounced the formation of a new and Pantsir-SA SAM systems
Fourth, territorial boundaries step is no bad thing. To that end joint Arctic Command, with four displayed on new amphibious
underneath the Polar Ice Cap it has revitalised its far northern dedicated combat brigades. This tracked chassis. Meanwhile a
have never been contested or rati- defences, including opening a build up of personnel and equip- Oscar II class submarine, the
fied before, adding a new an novel new permanent military air base, ment has also been accompanied Belgorod is being converted from
dynamic to the international dis- Trefoil, in Franz Josef Land, north by increased training exercises a cruise missile sub to a research
cussion. This has seen the Arctic of the Barents Sea – where MiG- and a focus on deployment in the and special operations vessel
coastal states Canada, Denmark 31 interceptors and Su-34 strike far north. designed to operate in the Arctic.
(Greenland), Norway, and Russia aircraft can be based. It is also Russia is also spending money With provision for midget sub-
all submitting (or planning to building other military bases in adapting or developing specialist marines and divers, speculation

Navy Seals being trained in Arctic Warfare.

Canadian new Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessel.

is that the Belgorod may be in- US coastline, is now thinking first time in Alaska. Meanwhile, a capabilities. These are based
volved in setting up a ‘Russian about potentially adding cruise training exercise in 2015, saw US on an armed Norwegian patrol
SOSUS’, or a chain of sea-bottom missiles packages to its future paratroopers jump over Alaska ship/icebreaker.
hydrophones in the Arctic. In ad- icebreakers – to avoid being out- as part of a scenario tasked with
dition, a new class of Russian ice- gunned by Russian ships. The US, recovering a lost satellite. Summary
breakers is set to be armed with while still committed to military Canada too, is enhancing Some 30 years before the start
containerised cruise missiles. operations in the Middle East, is its military capabilities for the of ‘the War to End All Wars’ in
This increased military fo- also making an effort to boost its Arctic. A new class of armed 1914 a race among the great
cus by Moscow on the Arctic Arctic readiness with exercises patrol ship optimised for the powers to conquer, occupy and
has not gone unnoticed. The US and training. In late 2015 it de- Arctic, the Harry DeWolf class divide the spoils of a continent
Coast Guard, while an armed ployed Stryker armoured vehi- set to enter service in 2018 saw the ‘Scramble for Africa’
service tasked with securing the cles to the Arctic Circle for the will have limited ice-breaking take place. Could a new scramble
for riches unravel in the same
way? Certainly the vast wealth,
new shipping routes, along with
the strained East-West relations
means that it has the potential
for wider geostrategic implica-
tions even for countries without
an Arctic coastline. One caveat,
of course, is the stubbornly low
price of oil – even with conflict
raging across the Middle East.
This, and the US’s shift to frack-
ing to reduce its reliance on
foreign energy reserves perhaps
means that one point of key
friction has been removed. Yet
the Arctic, plausibly, provides
the potential, if not for a full-on
ground war, then limited skir-
mishes, naval or air clashes, or
the kind of high-stakes espio-
nage that characterised the Cold
US Stryker armoured vehicles have been deployed for the first time in Alaska. War.