The world's largest satellite ground station, on the Svalbard archipelago off Norway, is used by Western space agencies to gather vital signals from polar-orbiting satellites. This January, one of two fibre-optic cables on the Arctic seabed connecting Svalbard to the mainland was severed. Norway was forced to rely on a back-up link.
In April 2021, another cable – one used by a Norwegian research laboratory to monitor activity on the Arctic seafloor – was ripped away.
Over recent years, NATO allies and Russia have scaled up military exercises in the region; Chinese and Russian warships conducted a joint exercise in the Bering Sea in September. Norway raised its military alert level in October.Since 2005, Russia has reopened tens of Arctic Soviet-era military bases, modernised its navy, and developed new hypersonic missiles designed to evade U.S. sensors and defences.
There are few risks in the near term, U.S. officials and military analysts say: The West is far stronger than Russia in conventional forces and Russia's limited success in Ukraine exposed weaknesses many in the West had not expected. "NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic with more modern capabilities," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters. "This is of course a response to what Russia is doing. They have significantly increased their presence ... and therefore we also need greater presence."As a shrinking ice cap opens up new sea lanes and resources, the Arctic is becoming strategically more important.
In July, President Vladimir Putin launched a new naval strategy pledging to protect Arctic waters "by all means." Russia's bases inside the Arctic Circle outnumber NATO's by about a third, according to data compiled by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Reuters. "We are starting serial production of Zircon missiles, and we have actually put it into service," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by military news outlet Zvezda on Aug. 20. Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for more details.
"That is of great concern – the ability to detect hypersonics coming from any country – and we've seen some technological advances from some of the competitors out there," Eyre told reporters in November. Sweden and Finland have begun investing in surveillance and deterrence capabilities and military hardware including jets so their air forces can fight alongside Arctic NATO allies. Denmark has set aside some $200 million to improve its Arctic military capabilities, including satellites and surveillance drones capable of flying up to 40 hours, and is reopening a Cold War era radar on the Faroe Islands between the UK and Iceland.
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