America’s ability to maintain a presence in the Arctic remains thin enough that a single mechanical failure cut the Coast Guard’s icebreaking capability in the region in half this summer.
And the breakdown comes as Chinese vessels are expanding their activity around Alaska.
Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, told Fox News Digital the failure of Coast Guard Cutter Healy left him with just one of two icebreakers that had been slated to operate in the ice. Meanwhile four Chinese research vessels were operating in the region.
“Healy’s unexpected mechanical failure cut in half my capability to operate up in the ice,” Little said.
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The shortfall comes as the U.S. faces a growing need to maintain a presence in waters that can take days to reach. Chinese research vessels are gaining experience in the Arctic and collecting data that can also have military applications, including for submarine operations, while Russia’s much larger icebreaker fleet gives Moscow greater ability to move ships and supplies through the region.
The Coast Guard is now racing to add ships, aircraft and surveillance capabilities as shrinking sea ice opens more of the Arctic to navigation. But its next generation of icebreakers is still years away.
“I can’t get those icebreakers soon enough, given the operational environment,” Little said.
Little said nearly $25 billion in recent funding will support 11 new Arctic Security Cutters, with the first expected to arrive in the region as early as 2028.
The buildup comes as the Coast Guard’s operating area is effectively growing. Declining sea ice is opening more navigable water around Alaska, bringing more commercial and military activity into areas that were once harder to reach.
“As that new operational area becomes accessible, we see an increase in human activity for economic development, for military advancement,” Little said. “And that activity is creating a need for additional Coast Guard mission.”
China has become an increasingly regular presence in those waters. Little said Chinese research activity has grown from as few as one vessel appearing episodically in the Arctic to five last year, while four operated there this year.
Those vessels are not necessarily violating international rules. The Coast Guard Cutter Munro recently returned from a 112-day Arctic patrol that included monitoring Chinese research ships, and Little said the Coast Guard did not observe activity on the surface that fell outside customary law or international norms.
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The concern, he said, is what China can learn simply by operating there.
“Any research vessel that operates in the Arctic has the ability to conduct both scientific research,” Little said. “It could be economic research that could be for future exploitation of critical minerals and scarce resources.”
“And then all of that research helps aid in military activity if you’re trying to identify seabed floors and navigate subsurface assets,” he added.
Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said China’s research activity gives Beijing experience operating in an environment where it has historically had little.
“They’re pretty desperate to gain operational experience and knowledge in terms of their growing military capabilities,” Bouffard told Fox News Digital.
The research vessels collect legitimate scientific data, he said, but that information can have other applications, “especially when it comes to submarine warfare planning.”
For the U.S., Bouffard said the challenge is about more than the number of icebreakers. Unlike the North Atlantic, where the U.S. and its allies have decades of infrastructure and experience, the North Pacific side of the Arctic has far less infrastructure to support a sustained presence.
“If we can’t have presence, surface presence in an area, it’s very difficult to manage issues that may escalate,” Bouffard said.
The distances compound the problem. Getting a ship from Kodiak, Anchorage or Seattle into the Bering Sea can take several days, Bouffard said.
Russia already holds a substantial advantage in its ability to maintain access through its much larger icebreaker fleet.
“Advantage certainly falls in their favor,” Little said.
Russia’s fleet allows it to maintain access, sea lanes and logistical routes for commercial and military purposes, he said.
“Certainly, as we look at the military advantage, there is a need for the United States to keep up and to ensure that we have ice presence and ice capability,” Little said.
The Coast Guard is also watching cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. Little said the service has observed joint Russian-Chinese military surface groups, cooperation between their coast guard forces and Chinese research vessels collaborating with Russia and “likely sharing information.”
“Either of them alone are worth paying attention to,” Little said. “But anytime they’re working together, we’re watching closely to see if they pose any threat to homeland security or a military risk to the United States.”
