The Navy has no existing or planned requirements to harden any of its surface vessels to operate in the Arctic region even though sea ice is declining for parts of the year and opening the area to more commercial activity, which is in line with the Defense Department’s current assessment that the threat level in the Arctic is low, according to a new report by a the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The report cites Navy officials as saying that for most of the year, most commercial ships will not be able to pass through the Arctic region, which makes it difficult to forecast sea activity. And even though there will be more activity, challenges such as winter ice in moving ice will make it difficult for vessels to operate in the Arctic “for the foreseeable future,” GAO says in the report, Arctic Planning: Navy Report to Congress Aligns with Current Assessments of Arctic Threat Levels and Capabilities Required to Execute DoD’s Strategy.
A Navy report delivered to Congress in June says that it can execute DoD’s Arctic Strategy, which was issued in 2016, using subsurface, aviation and surface assets. That report notes that the services has no plan to design ice-hardened ships, GAO says.
The GAO also cites DoD officials as saying that in addition to Navy assets, Coast Guard vessels can also be used to demonstrate the U.S. right to operate in the Arctic. The Coast Guard’s medium polar icebreaker, the Healy, does operate in the Arctic region and typically carries out presence and access operations in addition to serving as a platform for scientific missions. The service’s National Security Cutter Stratton has also conducted Arctic operations and the NSC’s are potential command and control platforms for Arctic operations at least during short periods of the year.
The U.S. Northern Command is the DoD’s operating command for the Arctic region and has developed an initial capabilities document that identifies three gaps for exercising and deploying, positioning, and conducting deterrence and decisive operations in “ice-diminished Arctic waters,” GAO says. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council has validated this initial capabilities document, which “will compete for resources with other issues designated for stud across the Navy,” the report says.