The Necessity of NATO in the Arctic
Providence, April 7, 2026
Setting aside the many problems with the tone, tactics, style and substance of President Donald Trump’s demand that “one way or the other” the U.S. will control the Danish territory of Greenland, there may be a silver lining in his Greenland gambit: It has highlighted for Americans and Europeans the Arctic’s importance. America’s security depends on defense of, deterrence across and presence in the Arctic—and lots of help from our NATO allies.
Enemies
To grasp the importance of the Arctic to America’s—and NATO’s—security, it’s helpful to set aside our Mercator maps, pick up a globe and make the North Pole, rather the U.S., our center point. From this perspective, we see that swaths of Alaska (a U.S. state), Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Greenland (a Danish territory) lie within the Arctic Circle. We see how close these NATO allies are geographically to Russia. We see that much of the High North is an ocean. And allied satellites see that a sizable portion of Russia’s nuclear arsenal is on the Kola Peninsula bordering northern Finland. If launched in anger, Russia’s missiles will take the shortest route to their U.S. targets: an 18-minute flight through Arctic airspace, over the North Pole and into North America.
Before getting into how NATO’s Arctic Seven are retooling to defend their overlapping interests in the Arctic, it’s important to emphasize that they’re doing so in response to the aggressive actions of Moscow and Beijing.
Russia has planted its flag on the seabed under the North Pole, laid claim to 70 percent of the Arctic Ocean based on a dubious interpretation of an underwater ridge linking to the Russian landmass, and claimed the continental shelf of Canada and of Denmark. Senior Russian officials have even made claims on Alaska.
To underscore its intentions, Russia has built/reopened 40 military installations across its Arctic frontier—girded by precision weapons, air-defense systems, warplanes and a fleet of 57 icebreakers. Russia’s newest class of icebreakers serves as a not-so-subtle signal: The ships are purpose-built to carry containerized missile systems.
Simply put, Putin has not reopened dozens of military bases in the Arctic to promote goodwill, ensure freedom of navigation or encourage free trade. Rather, he wants to dominate emerging Arctic sea lanes, control access to trillions in Arctic resources and posture his military to continue his piecemeal reconstruction of the Russian Empire.
As U.S. Army Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s military commander, observes, “They’re not studying the seals and the polar bears.”
Russian bombers regularly fly out of bases on the Kola Peninsula to menace NATO territory. Russia conducts provocative ICBM tests, submarine-launched missile tests and hypersonic missile tests in the Arctic. Russian Arctic military assets have threatened and/or violated Finnish airspace, Swedish airspace and Norwegian airspace. Allied governments worry that Russia could mount a Crimea-style operation to seize Sweden’s Gotland Island or one of Norway’s Svalbard islands. Russian aircraft—including long-range bombers—have flown into Alaska’s air defense identification zone. A U.S. warship was dispatched last summer to shadow a Russia-China flotilla operating near Alaskan waters.
Beijing’s investments in Arctic infrastructure include cargo ships, icebreakers, drilling rigs and research stations (at least one of which is tied to the PLA). China has flown warplanes and sailed ships through the Arctic, including bomber sorties in 2024 near Alaska. Last August, five PRC icebreakers sailed through waters north of Alaska in what was called an “unprecedented” surge of PRC Arctic capabilities. Last September, the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a cutter and fixed-wing aircraft in response to Chinese ships loitering off northern Alaska.
“One of the most concerning changes in the security situation has been the growing collaboration between Russia and China in the Arctic,” Grynkewich observes. “It’s not for peaceful purposes.” He calls the Arctic “a frontline for strategic competition.”
America
Americans tend to forget that the U.S. sits on that frontline. As the Obama administration emphasized, the United States is “an Arctic nation with broad and fundamental interests in the Arctic.”
Alaska is an Arctic territory—and home to 26,000 U.S. troops. U.S. forces man a key base above the Arctic Circle (Pituffik Space Base in Greenland) and another on the edge of the Arctic (Keflavík Air Base in Iceland). U.S. assets constantly train and deploy in the Arctic.
In 2021, Alaska became home to the world’s largest concentration of fifth-generation warplanes (F-22s and F-35s). In 2022, the Army reactivated the 11th Airborne Division—an Arctic warfare division based in Alaska. In 2023, U.S. F-35s participated for the first time in allied Arctic exercises.
In 2024, the Biden administration announced the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort. Dubbed “ICE Pact,” this initiative enfolding the U.S., Canada, and Finland aims to expand production of icebreakers and enhance polar capabilities. Also in 2024, the Army deployed two HIMARS batteries to Alaska’s Shemya Island—the Pacific Ocean’s gateway to the Arctic.
In 2025, the Trump administration accelerated the ICE Pact partnership. The Coast Guard commissioned its first polar icebreaker in a quarter-century. Congress approved $8.6 billion in fresh funding for Arctic-capable Coast Guard assets. And the Pentagon combined its Northern Edge and Arctic Edge exercises for the first time.
In early 2026, U.S. Army Special Forces deployed to Sweden for Arctic training.
Allies
Regrettably, Trump’s caginess about America’s commitment to NATO, misconceptions about the alliance and, at times, outright contempt for the alliance have done more to fragment NATO than solidify it around a shared Arctic mission. But the reality is that six of our seven Arctic neighbors are NATO allies. We should be thankful for that.
Canada has increased defense spending 96 percent since 2021, and is investingbillions into Arctic security, including: a 16-plane fleet of P-8A reconnaissance/antisubmarine planes, a long-range radar system for the country’s northern approaches (which serve as an outer layer of U.S. security); a refueling facility on Baffin Island for Arctic patrol ships; expansion of Arctic military training; acquisition of Arctic support ships and aircraft; and underwater surveillance systems. The U.S. and Canada conduct large-scale joint exercises such as Noble Defender. U.S. assets defend Canadian territory. And Canadian assetsdefend U.S. territory.
Finland has increased defense spending 127 percent since 2021. Last June, Finland announced the formation of a forward-deployed multinational unit based inside the Arctic Circle. Further south, NATO’s Multi-Corps Land Component Command—a permanent command focused on enhancing NATO’s deterrence efforts in Arctic Europe—became operational last September. As noted, Finland is helping expand America’s icebreaker fleet. “We build them faster than anyone in the world and at about half the price,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb boasts.
Denmark has increased defense spending 198 percent since 2021. Headquartered in Greenland, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command (JAC) defends Arctic territory. “My focus is on Russia,” Gen. Soren Andersen, JAC chief, bluntly explains. In September, Denmark’s JAC led exercise Arctic Light, which featured ships, fighter-jets, refueling aircraft, helicopters, drones and personnel from France, Germany, Sweden and Norway. Denmark is investing $13.7 billion in Arctic security, including: patrol ships, P-8As, icebreakers, long-range drones and upgrades to airports in Greenland to allow for F-35 deployments. In short, Denmark is deploying a lot more than dogsleds.
Investing 111 percent more on defense today than in 2021, Sweden is engaged in its largest military buildup since the Cold War. Sweden’s elite commando units are conducting Arctic exercises. Sweden also is hosting U.S. Marines on Gotland to test missile systems and conduct joint training.
Norway has increased defense spending 144 percent since 2021. With multiple Arctic bases, Norway is acquiring a fleet of P-8As and developing a long-endurance drone designed for Arctic operations. Norway hosts NATO’s Cold Weather Operations Center. Underscoring its seriousness about regional security, Norway in 2025 seized a Russian ship suspected of destroying undersea cables. Norway this month will host 25,000 troops from across the NATO alliance—including 4,000 Americans—for exercise Cold Response.
Though not an Arctic nation, Britain leads the Joint Expeditionary Force, which focuses largely on Arctic security and includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Vowing to play a “vital” role in NATO’s new Arctic Sentry operation, Britain is sending a carrier strike group to Arctic waters.
That brings us to alliance-wide efforts: Arctic Sentry is a multinational mission focused on securing NATO’s Arctic interests and deterring the main threat to those interests. It is modeled after Eastern Sentry (launched after Russia’s drone attacks into Poland) and Baltic Sentry (launched in response to Russian sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic). In addition, NATO nations have conducted dozens of Arctic exercises since Russia’s 2022 onslaught of Ukraine.
The U.S is powerful—but not all-powerful. NATO allies, for instance, deploy a combined 45 icebreakers, the U.S. only three. A 2025 NATO exercise revealed that British, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish personnel were better prepared for Arctic operations than U.S. forces. Under NORAD, Canada helps defend U.S. airspace and seaspace. Norway hosts a Marine Corps facility that stores prepositioned military equipment. Denmark’s JAC recently evacuated a stricken crewmember of a U.S. submarine and raced him to a hospital for emergency care.
The takeaway: Allied capabilities are important to America’s security, and NATO’s Arctic members need each other to defend their common interests and deter their common enemy.
Protect and Preserve
As people of faith, we know that government exists to protect innocents and preserve order—both within nations and between nations. The Providencestatement on faith and foreign policy equates this with the “creation mandate to cultivate the Garden (Genesis 2:15). The ‘garden’ in question is the international social system—or, more concisely, world order.”
NATO protects 981 million people and keeps the peace across its 32-nation footprint—a 10.5-million-square-mile swath of creation. It can do the same in the Arctic—but only if Americans remember that they can achieve far more by working with allies than by going it alone.