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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSaying that now is \u201ca critical time\u201d for the Arctic, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters Monday that climate change, increased activity by adversaries and degrading U.S. infrastructure are forcing the department to rethink how to keep the Arctic secure and ensure troops are well-equipped and protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Arctic strategy is short on specifics, but broadly pushes for greater 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<\/a> and a number of NATO allies in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defense Department leaders have, for more than the past decade, warned that the U.S. needs to step up its activities in the Arctic to better compete with China and Russia as climate change makes the frigid region more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the remote northern expanse presents an array of challenges, including demands for deep-water ports, weapons, drones and equipment that can withstand the climate, and additional ships that can handle the cold waters and break through the ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. has also struggled with Cold War-era Defense and State Department infrastructure that is degrading in the frigid weather, and erosion on the coasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cold and increasingly unpredictable weather also restricts military training and affects equipment. And the region, which has limited satellite coverage, requires a far more expansive array of sensors for communications and military awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSlowly over time, there\u2019s been a bit of a greater awakening in the department,\u201d said Iris Ferguson, the deputy assistant defense secretary for the Arctic. \u201cNow we\u2019re getting into the nitty gritty of how you implement a strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report notes that the Arctic is warming \u201cmore than three times faster than the rest of the world” and could see its first \u201cpractically ice-free summer\u201d by 2030. As the ice melts, the increased traffic, it said, will boost the risks of accidents, miscalculation and environmental degradation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hicks couldn’t quantify the increased activity by Russia and China 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the melting ice caps are opening sea lanes for longer periods of time each year, making lucrative oil and gas deposits more accessible. And China has provided critical funding to Russia for energy exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n