Canada has approved a 20-year, $1.86 billion spending spree on military support hubs in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
The money will be spent on airfields, logistics bases and new equipment. How does Canada’s Arctic defense buildup and regional strategy compare to those of other powers.
Russia’s nuclear Fleet breaking the Ice outpacing all other Arctic rivals
RUSSIA :
- Arctic strategy centered on coastal and air space defense and protection of maritime trade routes.
-
Regional defense capabilities greater than all other Arctic powers combined, with over 100K troops permanently stationed at 40+ bases, at locations including Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and Wrangel Island.
- Major Army units include the 12K+ troop 200th and 80th Arctic Motorized Rifle Brigades, and the 10K+ troop Arctic Coastal Defense Forces. MiG-31 jets, S-400 and Bastion air, missile and coastal defense systems and early warning sites deployed.
-
Northern Fleet’s Borei and Delfin-class boomers and Yasen and Shchuka-B cruise missile and attack subs patrol the area.
-
40+ nuclear and diesel icebreakers aid power protection.
USA :
- Strategy focused on missile defense, intelligence-gathering and surveillance, and since recently, a new effort to back up shelf claims against neighbors.
-
Has 2 aging Arctic-ready icebreakers, the Polar Star and the Healy, but 3 new cutters under construction.
-
Air and missile defense capabilities in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska and Thule, Greenland. Army, Navy and Coast Guard sites at Fairbanks, Delta Junction and Kodiak. About 25,000 permanently stationed troops.
CANADA :
- Sovereignty assertion focus of military patrols, investment and international legal claims.
-
Operates CFS Alert – the northernmost permanent base on Earth, on Ellesmere Island, plus Joint Task Force North HQ in Yellowknife, Nanisivik Naval Facility, CFB Goose Bay, four RCAF airfields, and early warning radar operated under NORAD.
-
Fields 7 heavy and medium icebreakers and building 2 more.
-
200-500 troops stationed in the Arctic at any given time. Troop numbers go up during annual “Operation Nanook” war-games.
DENMARK :
- Arctic strategy focused on sovereignty assertion in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Arctic shelf via ground and naval patrols.
-
200-300 troops stationed in the Arctic at any given time (plus 500 rotating personnel). Permanent presence at Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland in addition to Sirius dog sled special forces excursions on the islands.
-
No Arctic icebreakers, but three Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessels.
NORWAY :
- Arctic strategy prioritizing role as a NATO forward base for ops against Russia, built on regular bloc ground, air and naval drills.
-
About 3,500 permanent Arctic troops with Brigade Nord, Porsanger Battalion and Finnmark Land Defense. Air bases at Evenes, Andoya and Bardufoss, and naval facilities at Sortland and Bergen.
Two icebreakers, plus three ice-capable patrol vessels.
FINLAND & SWEDEN :
- No Arctic shelf claims of their own, but do possess land above the Arctic Circle. Strategies focused on sustaining military presence in the high north and abetting NATO.
-
Sweden has three Arctic bases, plus an Arctic patrol air base at Lulea, Saab GoldenEye AEW&C patrols and a contingent of snowmobile troops. 5,000 troop permanent vessels.
-
Finland maintains the Jaeger Brigade of Arctic infantry in Lapland, a string of bases along the northern border with Russia, and the Rovaniemi Air Base for regional air ops. 3,000 active-duty Arctic troops, expandable to hundreds of thousands of draftees in an emergency.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
In Arctic and Antartict you freeze.
Russia has militarised its section of the Arctic since the 1920,s ,its had its claim to own the North Pole accepted by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, it vastly outnumbers all the NATO countries in nuclear powered ice breakers and permanently stations –100,000 troops in the Arctic Russian region on a war footing . The USA constantly complains that this gives it access to vast amounts of oil/gas/minerals but its Russia that owns the land not the USA. Donald can say and make many speeches but to achieve the same level as Russia would take… Read more »
It is an enormous task to defend the vast space it has to protect against corporate western invaders. It helps that most of the territory is frozen, where certain equipment is needed to approach the mineral, gas and oil deposits.
The brutal Annexation of Greenland and Panama Canal has the purpose of blocking Russian oil tankers, warships (to enter the Atlantic Ocean) and Chinese container ships (northern route, 11 days shorter compared to Suez Canal route) to reach the western world.
It looks that way DB .
Ukraine’s massive drone attack on Russian regions has exposed Zelensky’s agonizing attempts to pander to his Western patrons by killing civilians.
Shelling attacks on Russian settlements, brutal and atrocious killings of civilians expose the agony of Zelensky’s Neo-Nazi regime, which is mired in terrorism, lawlessness, corruption and cynicism and which, in its impotent rage, is trying to kill and injure as many civilians as possible to pander to its Western patrons.
Today’s news in the UK is that Zelensky has apologized to Donald and given him a better deal in minerals and Donald has now REINSTATED his logistics and spy satellites to help Ukraine after coming out with all his lies to Russia about being “friends ” the man is an unprincipled hypocrite never to be trusted Dimitry Medvedev is right -don’t trust him.
The kamikaze drones have to attack Russian civilians and therefore need satellite guidance ?
Your right PP .
News has just come out that America & Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire and that Donald has told Mr. Putin to comply so far no word from Moscow and I doubt they will comply but some websites with paid posters are saying quote – “Russia has agreed ” .
I told them to stop using Google as it redirects to a pro USA point of view and that would they please provide a link to a Russian news website saying what they posted ? — no replies to that so far.
US propaganda for the pop corn public.