{"id":1714975,"date":"2022-10-28T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1714975"},"modified":"2022-10-28T10:34:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T14:34:29","slug":"build-the-polar-fleet-we-need-to-deter-arctic-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/build-the-polar-fleet-we-need-to-deter-arctic-aggression\/","title":{"rendered":"Build the Polar Fleet We Need to Deter Arctic Aggression"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbuild-the-polar-fleet-we-need-to-deter-arctic-aggression%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1714975&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/D2GKKEF4ZVCAXINR6WUIDYDQUY.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Winter is coming early this year in the Arctic. Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/09\/27\/coast-guard-spots-chinese-russian-naval-ships-off-alaska-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a Chinese and Russian joint surface action group came within 75 nautical miles of Kiska Island, Alaska<\/a>. In response, the Coast Guard mobilized a patrol to monitor the ships as they approached American home waters. A year prior, <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskapublic.org\/2021\/09\/14\/coast-guard-encountered-chinese-warships-in-the-aleutians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several Chinese warships had entered the U.S. exclusive economic zone off Alaska<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">These repeated tests of American resolve so close to our shores should set off alarm bells in Washington. Our two greatest adversaries, China and Russia, are now <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2022\/10\/11\/china-russia-quietly-expanding-arctic-partnership-says-panel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cooperating on the high seas<\/a> to challenge our presence in the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Chinese and Russian attempts to gain superiority in the Arctic are not new. In 2015, five Chinese vessels marked President Barack Obama\u2019s visit to the Bering Sea with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/asia_pacific\/china-sends-warships-into-bering-sea-as-obama-concludes-alaska-visit\/2015\/09\/03\/c4dc94f0-5240-11e5-8c19-0b6825aa4a3a_story.html?tid=a_inl_manual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">battle drills off the Alaskan coast<\/a>. Russia has long maintained a strong military presence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navalnews.com\/naval-news\/2022\/10\/new-images-reveal-russias-missing-submarine-belgorod-in-arctic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the Arctic<\/a>, even after the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">What is different now, however, is that our rivals\u2019 power projection in the polar regions is outpacing our own. As a self-described \u201cnear-Arctic power,\u201d China has been working to build a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.airuniversity.af.edu\/JIPA\/Display\/Article\/2820750\/chinas-polar-silk-road-implications-for-the-arctic-region\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Polar Silk Road<\/a>\u201d of economic and military infrastructure across the Arctic. Meanwhile, Russia is developing its already-formidable capabilities to disrupt freedom of navigation and U.S. operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">If China and Russia reach their goals, the Arctic will emerge as a central theater in our respective competitions. Alaska is a vital location for monitoring Chinese and Russian missile forces. The Arctic\u2019s natural characteristics also make it ripe for space launch, reconnaissance, and energy resource capture. Losing the upper hand in the Arctic could result in our exclusion from the region militarily and economically \u2014 an ominous prospect, given the trajectory of American relations with Russia and China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">The United States has already been caught flat-footed, as we have invested relatively little in our Arctic forces. For example, the combined icebreaker fleets of our adversaries outpace ours by more than 25 to 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">U.S. leaders simply have not met the Arctic challenge, and we are only beginning to confront this reality now. In recent months, the Biden Administration has created new posts at the Pentagon and State Department to address Arctic security. And more recently, the White House rolled out a comprehensive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2022\/10\/07\/fact-sheet-the-united-states-national-strategy-for-the-arctic-region\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">political-military strategy for the Arctic<\/a>, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2022\/10\/07\/white-house-arctic-strategy-calls-for-enhanced-military-presence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">includes a call for a greater military presence in the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Our core challenge, however, is that the U.S. defense industrial base will essentially be starting from scratch to field these capabilities. Decades of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/01\/26\/securing-the-north-expanding-the-united-states-icebreaker-fleet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">low investment in icebreakers from the federal government<\/a> has left U.S. shipbuilders unprepared to service even the best defense strategy. Today, only one shipyard in the United States is building polar icebreakers, and we are set to add just three of these crucial ships by 2030. Without sustained investment in these capabilities, there is little hope of maintaining long-term U.S. power in the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Congress has worked to authorize funding for a twelfth national security cutter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/10\/11\/senators-confident-defense-budget-work-will-get-finished-this-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in this year\u2019s defense bill<\/a>, but much more needs to be done. We need to expand the icebreaker program and substantially increase the budget for U.S. Northern Command, which would give planners the tools they need to navigate this unstable strategic environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">Russia and China\u2019s latest target, Kiska Island, became known during World War II as one of few U.S. territories ever to be occupied by a foreign nation. Japanese control of the island came to an end in 1943 when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/battle-of-attu-and-kiska-in-alaska-us-japanese-troops-in-north-america-2018-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adm. Chester W. Nimitz and his cruisers expelled the Japanese<\/a>. Since then, U.S. forces have continued a proud tradition of Arctic operations, including the first deployment of a nuclear submarine in 1954.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\">It appears Kiska \u2014 and indeed the United States \u2014 is once again coming under threat from a Pacific power. The moment demands that we unleash the full might of our defense industrial base to secure our foothold in the Arctic. As the proverbial winter with China and Russia comes, we should prepare ourselves to weather it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\"><i>Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/i><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading__StyledHeading-sc-123v3ct-0 iKlOni a-heading2\">Have an opinion?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\"><i>This article is an Op-Ed and as such, the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please <\/i><a href=\"mailto:opinions@militarytimes.com\"><i>email us<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-sc-1tqpf5s-0 kEzXdV body-paragraph body-paragraph\"><i>Want more perspectives like this sent straight to you? <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/link.militarytimes.com\/join\/5b9\/sign-up-opinion\"><i>Subscribe to get our Commentary &#038; Opinion newsletter<\/i><\/a><i> once a week.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Winter is coming early this year in the Arctic. Last month, a Chinese and Russian joint surface action group came within 75 nautical miles of Kiska Island, Alaska. In response,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1714978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1714975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1714978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}