The Arctic

[GR66]

This has been a perennial issue for Norway, and Canada too...

Norwegian MoD Stresses Importance of Enough People in Northern Norway

Bodø (High North News): The Norwegian government wants to strengthen defense in the far north and establish the Finnmark Brigade. According to the MoD, securing settlement in this region is high on the agenda. "If things get really serious, we are dependent on civilian society and the function of total defense," he says.

"There is construction activity nearly wherever you turn in Porsangmoen in Finnmark county. The development is very positive. This was a garrison close to decommission a few years ago," says MoD Bjørn Arild Gram (Center) in an interview with High North News.

The government's new long-term plan for the Norwegian Armed Forces places great emphasis on strengthening the Army and building a brand new Finnmark Brigade in Norway's northernmost county.

"The government is strengthening the Armed Forces in general. We need a greater defense with more modern capabilities. We build from what we have, and a build-up of the Finnmark land defense is already taking place," says Gram.

New military land structure​

The Finnmark land defense consists of the garrison in Sør-Varanger, Porsanger Batallion, and Finnmark Home Guard District (HV-17).

"We see the potential in developing the Finnmark land defense to brigade size, which will allow this complex force to operate more independently," says Gram.

A brigade typically consists of about 3000 to 5000 soldiers. Today, Brigade Nord, with its focal point in Inner Troms, is the only brigade in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

The MoD explains that the major investment in the Finnmark Brigade involves a new infantry battalion, artillery battalion, and a number of new elements connected to military police, management, and logistics. The Home Guard will also be strengthened in the North, with anti-tank warfare and air force capacities.

"This is a collective investment based on what is already under construction."


Norwegian MoD Stresses Importance of Enough People in Northern Norway (highnorthnews.com)

Finnmark
Area: 48,618 sq km
Population: 75,540 (2019)

Yukon
Area: 482,443 sq km
Population: 45,384 (2024 est)

Finnmark is 1/10th the size of the Yukon and has 1.66 times the population.

The vast size of Canada's Territories and the incredibly small population there really is a huge challenge for the CAF compared to what other NATO arctic countries face. We really need a concerted all of government effort to develop the North in order to support the services, population and economy we need there to properly secure and defend our sovereignty.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Finnmark
Area: 48,618 sq km
Population: 75,540 (2019)

Yukon
Area: 482,443 sq km
Population: 45,384 (2024 est)

Finnmark is 1/10th the size of the Yukon and has 1.66 times the population.

It's a lot easier to access points of interest in Finnmark simply because of the presence of an ice-free coast and the narrowness of the land between the water's edge and neighbouring borders.

 

[daftandbarmy]

It's a lot easier to access points of interest in Finnmark simply because of the presence of an ice-free coast and the narrowness of the land between the water's edge and neighbouring borders.

And these guys are just a short sail away

The Russian Navy and the Arctic: A New Reality, Old Challenges

With the most extensive Arctic coastline stretching over 14,000 kilometres from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait, Russia will now face a “NATO” Arctic Council. The principal naval force in the Arctic, the Russian Northern Fleet – boasting around 25 submarines and approximately twenty surface...

ras-nsa.ca

 

[Kirkhill]

New Norad commander wants more U.S. troops training in Canadian Arctic

The Arctic is an area of particular concern for Norad, which is tasked with defending North American airspace

nationalpost.com

American troops? In "Our North, Strong and Free" ?

“The challenge in the Arctic, from my perspective, is to make sure that we have freedom of movement,” he (Guillot) said.

 

[daftandbarmy]

It's a lot easier to access points of interest in Finnmark simply because of the presence of an ice-free coast and the narrowness of the land between the water's edge and neighbouring borders.

And Sweden has kicked off a desperate game of 'catch up', which it might not win...

Sweden is joining Nato, but it’s hopelessly unprepared for war​

he Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 came as a rude awakening for Sweden. Across the country people suddenly realised that national security vulnerabilities were everywhere. The entire public transit rail network in Stockholm, for example, is operated by MTR, a Hong Kong-based company with ties to the Chinese Communist party.

In the event of Stockholm being attacked by foreign forces, most of the detail about critical infrastructure and tunnels running under the city centre – home to the Swedish parliament, the prime minister’s residence, the state department, the royal castle – could be shared with enemies.

“We have to assume that everything MTR knows about tunnels and infrastructure in Stockholm is also known in Beijing,” says Patrik Oksanen, an expert on national security.

Sweden is set to join Nato this year, with Hungary’s long-delayed parliamentary approval finally voted through on Monday. Turkey lifted its objections in January. This is a historic shift: after more than two centuries of peace, neutral Sweden will have to rapidly adjust to a belligerent new world.

But that came with a blunt warning: from civil defence minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin, that “there could be war in Sweden”. If that wasn’t alarming enough, Sweden’s chief of defence, Micael Bydén, followed up by saying that the Swedish population needed to “mentally prepare” for the possibility of war. Both drew criticism for causing panic: many Swedish children took to TikTok to share their fears. The warnings may have been clumsily worded but they were intended to wake the country up from a long slumber of geopolitical naivety.

As a growing number of national security experts in Sweden have pointed out, the current state of Swedish infrastructure and extent of foreign ownership leave Sweden uniquely vulnerable. It certainly makes a mockery of the Swedish “total defence” tradition, where everything from grain supply chains to fire departments is supposedly involved in protecting the country and its people in the event of disaster or invasion.

Sweden is joining Nato, but it’s hopelessly unprepared for war | Martin Gelin

After two centuries of peace, and a fire-sale of public infrastructure, the country has never been so vulnerable

www.theguardian.com

 

[Skysix]

Once again, Perun nails it

 

[Kirkhill]

NORAD and Northcom IT contract.

Recently awarded a $229 million Pentagon contract, the IT firm SAIC sees its mission to modernize systems at US Northern Command and NORAD as critical to fending off America’s foes, especially in the Arctic, a company executive told Breaking Defense.

'They run on information': SAIC nabs $229M NORAD, NORTHCOM modernization contract - Breaking Defense

Though details are scarce, SAIC executive Vinnie DiFronzo said the work will likely include helping the organizations move to the cloud and bolster their cyber infrastructure.

breakingdefense.com

SAIC | Welcome to SAIC

www.saic.com

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Russian pilot acting like an a$$hole. Next time they try a stunt like this the USAF should shoot them down!

Dramatic video shows Russian fighter jet flying dangerously close to aircraft off Alaska, NORAD says

"The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all," a NORAD commander said.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Cloud Cover]

Russian pilot acting like an a$$hole. Next time they try a stunt like this the USAF should shoot them down!

Dramatic video shows Russian fighter jet flying dangerously close to aircraft off Alaska, NORAD says

"The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all," a NORAD commander said.

www.cbsnews.com

Did he get the jump on a solitary F16?

 

[Edward Campbell]

Back in the day we had a thing referred to as the "mobile striking force:" essentially the 2nd battalion of each of The RCR, the PPCI and the R22R were (partial) parachute battalions and were trained and, to a degree, equipped for Arctic operations.

The perceived threat, we were told, was based on the fact that the Germans managed to install, operate and maintain a weather station in Canada during the 1939-45 dustup and we were unable to detect or deal with it.

One of the (many and often conflicting) ideas behind the creation of the Airborne Regiment in 1968 was that it would be able to move, quickly and decisively against any similar incursion.

The thinking was, I believe, that no-one, not the Russians, anyway, could land and sustain a force of any size in our Arctic so we needed, at b best, a small brigade for the "Defence of Canada:" maybe two, small (3 company) airborne battalions with some appropriate supporting arms and services.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Russian pilot acting like an a$$hole. Next time they try a stunt like this the USAF should shoot them down!

Dramatic video shows Russian fighter jet flying dangerously close to aircraft off Alaska, NORAD says

"The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all," a NORAD commander said.

www.cbsnews.com

Or just....

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Back in the day we had a thing referred to as the "mobile striking force:" essentially the 2nd battalion of each of The RCR, the PPCI and the R22R were (partial) parachute battalions and were trained and, to a degree, equipped for Arctic operations.

The perceived threat, we were told, was based on the fact that the Germans managed to install, operate and maintain a weather station in Canada during the 1939-45 dustup and we were unable to detect or deal with it.

One of the (many and often conflicting) ideas behind the creation of the Airborne Regiment in 1968 was that it would be able to move, quickly and decisively against any similar incursion.

The thinking was, I believe, that no-one, not the Russians, anyway, could land and sustain a force of any size in our Arctic so we needed, at b best, a small brigade for the "Defence of Canada:" maybe two, small (3 company) airborne battalions with some appropriate supporting arms and services.

I see the Arctic threat as combined Chinese and Russian intrusions dressed up as "Civilian Research", followed up with the rapid building of infrastructure. Mould bay certainly is one such place, on the edge of the archipelago and the waters, weather and ice around it fairly well known.

 

[Loachman]

Challenge and commitment : a defence policy for Canada : D2-73/1987E-PDF - Government of Canada Publications - Canada.ca

Publication information / bibliographic Record.

publications.gc.ca

North Warning System, 12 Nuclear subs, Special Service Brigade, Militia Vital Points troops (these days they would be GBAD heavy I believe), Bv206s and Bison APCs (thin skinned but easy to operate, all terrain and amphibious).

The Bvs are back on the horizon. The Bison are likely to be replaced by an armoured Silverado. And again we are talking about 12 subs.

Can we reset to 1984? And this time get Operation Brave Lion right?

Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was unaware of this thread until the latest post.

I hugely appreciate the first link above, which includes a link to the 1987 White Paper. Thanks tons.

The first two paragraphs at the top of the fourth page have always been the most interesting to me, ever since acquiring the paper document, which has been buried in a box for a few decades now. I was one of the "group of young Canadian Forces officers stationed in Germany", and meeting with Mr Beatty in the Black Forest Officers' Mess on two separate Friday night Happy Hours was a great pleasure. I had never before seen a defence minister so interested and keen on his or her job, who asked such intelligent and well-considered questions, who listened so intently to the answers, responded with detailed secondary questions, took our answers to heart, and creditted us in a White Paper many months later. It was most uplifting.

And no minister has come close since then. Most have been bitter disappointments. Some have been bitter, bitter disappointments.

 

[Kirkhill]

Back in the day we had a thing referred to as the "mobile striking force:" essentially the 2nd battalion of each of The RCR, the PPCI and the R22R were (partial) parachute battalions and were trained and, to a degree, equipped for Arctic operations.

The perceived threat, we were told, was based on the fact that the Germans managed to install, operate and maintain a weather station in Canada during the 1939-45 dustup and we were unable to detect or deal with it.

One of the (many and often conflicting) ideas behind the creation of the Airborne Regiment in 1968 was that it would be able to move, quickly and decisively against any similar incursion.

The thinking was, I believe, that no-one, not the Russians, anyway, could land and sustain a force of any size in our Arctic so we needed, at b best, a small brigade for the "Defence of Canada:" maybe two, small (3 company) airborne battalions with some appropriate supporting arms and services.

My take now is

3x Special Service Force (Regulars)
1x Armoured Brigade
1x Artillery Brigade
Support troops.

The SSFs function as ready forces but also function as the core element to which other troops can be attached to create viable brigades.

Meanwhile there are enough elements there to create 2 divisions. A division could be as small as a reinforced brigade to which allied elements could be attached. Alternately it could be 3 small brigades. With two Div HQs Canada could field both simultaneously.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

To succeed in the Arctic it must be a "All of government(s)" approach. There are many issues that intersects the needs of different levels of government and Departments.

Example: Airport improvements. If the Airport to accommodate DND needs more space for a new hanger, sewage and power system and extended runway. DND/PWGS provides the extra funding, along with TC and other Departments. The Feds and Territorials government also kick in some infrastructure funding to cover the civilian side. The planning is done together and perhaps the entire project is contracted as one and outside just DND.

Same with Ports, roads, communications and government buildings