Army Faces Fight Just To Survive In the Arctic
Critical high-tech gear doesn’t work in the Arctic, with batteries draining in minutes, howitzers freezing up, and vehicles breaking down.
BY
JOSEPH TREVITHICK
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PUBLISHED OCT 17, 2023 6:44 PM EDT
US Army officials say the service faces unique challenges just in surviving in and around the Arctic, let alone operating in that region.
JOSEPH TREVITHICK
The U.S. Army faces a host of challenges in moving beyond just surviving in and around the ever-more strategic Arctic region to actually being able to operate there effectively. Many standard weapons and other equipment, as well as typical tactics, techniques, and procedures, literally do no work in this part of the world. This, in turn, is prompting calls for new and innovative approaches to many problems, many of which might be easily solvable in more temperate climes.
Senior Army officers and civilians gave a blunt assessment of the difficulties the service faces in operating in the Arctic during a panel talk at the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) main annual convention in Washington, D.C., last week. They highlighted how extremely cold temperatures and basic geography mean units in the High North face unique equipment-related and logistical problems with everything from satellite communications to just keeping batteries charged. Many operational tasks, including setting up artillery positions, conducting basic first aid, and just moving from point A to point B, are also much harder than they would be at lower latitudes.
A New Arctic Army
The Arctic has been seeing renewed strategic attention from the U.S. military for years now. Global climate change has caused the polar ice caps to recede, opening up new access to natural resources and trade routes. This, in turn, has created new geopolitical competition, and the potential for conflict, especially with Russia and China, as a byproduct.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/army-faces-fight-just-to-survive-in-the-arctic
