Global warming is causing sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to melt faster, which opens new shipping routes. That has Canada concerned that Russia and China, which already have stepped up activity in the region, could use the routes for military purposes, as well as trade. NATO allies share the concern, CBS News reports. One counterstep Canada is taking involves acquiring a dozen conventionally powered submarines capable of traveling under sea ice. They'll be deployed to "detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries" in Canadian waters, the defense ministry said in a statement. At the moment, Canada has four submarines that it plans to update.
Icebreakers are needed, too, says Canada, which announced a partnership this week with the US and Finland for the nations to keep building them. The deals, which were announced during the NATO summit last week, partly answer criticism by the US and other allies about Canada's relatively low spending on defense, per the CBC. The Northern Sea Route is navigable for only parts of the year at the moment, but Canada projects that as the polar ice caps melt, it could become the most efficient Europe-Asia route by 2050, cutting travel time by as much as 20 days.
In anticipation, Russia has had a natural gas tanker make a trial run and increased military operations in the Arctic Circle, per CBS. Russia is "quite eager to develop this Northern Sea Route," said Dmitry Gorenburg of the Center for Naval Analyses, possibly as a faster option than routes through the Suez or Panama canals. He said the US will feel the effect of a greater Russian presence in the Arctic. "It affects US security largely because of potential threats to NATO and the alliance structure," Gorenburg said, noting the potential serious fallout for the US from a Russian attack on Finland or Norway. (More Canadian Arctic stories.)
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