By Brett Davis, Editor-in-Chief
The U.S. Coast Guard was pleased to hear of President Trump’s interest in acquiring as many as 40 new icebreakers, said Coast Guard Vice Admiral Tom Allan, the acting deputy commandant for operations.
“Whenever your boss is interested in 40 icebreakers, you are very happy, right?” he said in response to a question during the April 7 panel on “Demanding Presence in the Poles: How a Good Arctic Strategy is Park of our National Security.”
“I mean, this has been something that we’ve been trying to do for a long time, I’ll tell you that,” Allan said.
They wouldn’t all need to be heavy icebreakers like the aging Polar Star, in service since the 1970s, he said, as studies have show the Coast Guard wouldn’t need more than eight or nine of those. There are smaller ships that could do icebreaking as part of their other functions, and some could be used on the Great Lakes.
Adding those in, “you get up to that 40 number pretty quick,” Allan said,” because that’s what we need … to make sure that domestic operations continue and that we are poised to have that presence in the high Arctic and Antarctic. So, I’ll just say it’s very exciting to see your boss point towards a vision that we've had for a long time.”
The United States and Canada must maintain a strong presence in the poles, especially as warming trends lead to more commercial activity, including shipping and mining, speakers from those nations said during the panel.
Operating in the region is challenging, the panelists said, not only because of ice but also from wind and fog, which can hamper aviation.
“So, having properly equipped vessels, training crews, and most importantly, [having] icebreakers is essential to giving the U.S. assured access to these critical areas,” Allan said.
“We must meet presence with presence, or even better, meet presence with strength. If we aren’t present, others will fill that void, nations whose interests may not align with ours or our allies. Russia controls nearly half of the Arctic, and we’re seeing increased cooperation between Russia and China in this space,” Allan said. “From resource shipments to military operations, we must lead the polar region … if we fail to act, we'll be left on the sidelines, watching others shape the future of the region in ways that cannot serve our national interest.”
This is true for Canada as well, said Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Canadian Navy.
Canada has made substantial investments in domain awareness in the region, from over-the-horizon radars to a network of subsurface sensors “designed to make sure we know what’s going on in that region,” he said, which includes adding six ice-breaking warships to its fleet.
The Arctic is remote to Canada as well, he noted. Going from Halifax, Nova Scotia, across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean is a quicker trip than visiting the Arctic, he said.
“That’s a shorter trip than up into our Arctic. So, for us, it’s an expeditionary theater,” which means working closely with the territorial governments in the region to understand the security challenges they face.
Vice Admiral Doug Perry, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, said his fleet was stood up in 2018 “in recognition of there are some real threats that come from the Arctic and through the Arctic,” similar patterns of activity to the Cold War.
“We’re back to needing to be there with persistence today,” Perry said. That includes using space assets and radars for domain awareness and having ships in the region when needed.
“There’s less and less sea ice. There’ll be more and more blue water every day of the year going forward,” he said. “And so, that demands that if we value international freedom of the seas and international rules-based order, if you will, then we actually have to be there and be present and have persistent presence to demonstrate that we will enforce international law” even in some countries illegitimately claim to own particular sea routes.
Perry said seven of the eight Artic nations are members of NATO, “all of whom are thoroughly invested in Arctic security” and are making investments in their capabilities.
