Marines, sailors and Coasties play catch-up in Arctic warfare
By: Kyle Rempfer  
Concerned about the Arctic as a future flashpoint, the Navy and Coast Guard are working to define their new roles there. U.S. Marines with Marine Rotational Force-Europe 19.1 fire a TOW wire-guided missile system in Setermoen, Norway, Feb. 20, 2019, one of the first times the Corps fired the missile system while in the Arctic Circle. (Cpl. Ashley McLaughlin)
The Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are working to define their new roles in the Arctic, but a few new icebreakers won’t solve their lagging capabilities to project power and deter rivals in the region, experts from the Naval War College said at a panel Wednesday.
By 2020, Russia is expected to have full radar coverage, S-400 air defense and anti-surface missile coverage, a fully operational communication network and an underwater surveillance system bridging the over 1,600 miles from the Bering Strait to the Bering Sea, right off Alaska’s coast, a professor at the Naval War College and former chief of the Norwegian Navy said at the panel.
“You need to start looking at the Arctic as it is, not what you want it to be,†said retired Norwegian Rear Adm. Lars Saunes. “And tension between NATO and Russia is increasing in the Arctic.â€
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/05/30/marines-sailors-and-coasties-play-catch-up-in-arctic-warfare/
