U.S. Navy is sending for warships to Iceland as part of a temporary expeditionary mission.
The idea is to get more acquainted to the Arctic and prepare for ramping up the presence
in the future.
Views may note that last year, USS Truman supercarrier and its support ships venture
into the region as part of NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise.
It marked a tactical shift as this was the first time a U.S Navy surface ship moved into
the Arctic in 30 years.
The four vessels in the latest mission are the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser
USS Normandy and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Lassen, USS Forrest Sherman,
and USS Farragut.
A helicopter maritime strike squadron will also be taking part in the mission.
All these assets are part of the newly-reactivated U.S. 2nd Fleet.
The main objective of the U.S. 2nd Fleet is to counter Russian activity in the Arctic
and North Atlantic.
As per reports.
the vessels sailed from their home base in Mayport, Florida earlier this month and on
arrival have joint together to form a Surface Action Group (SAG).
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the Arctic could be the next major dispute
like the South China Sea?
Let’s get started
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As the ice caps melt in the Arctic, it will become economically viable to navigate.
Russia is gearing up to monetize the potentially lucrative Northern Sea Route (NSR) as the
Barents Sea and Arctic thaw faster than anticipated.
Northern Sea Route could make connectivity between Europe and Asia 40% faster, cheaper,
more fuel-efficient, and greener.
Russia will lose land as the ice melt, but it may gain nearly 1.2 m sq km in its continental
shelf which means it will have rights to extract under-sea minerals and energy resources.
Initially, Russian President Putin had dismissed climate change.
But he has moved away from that line and signed the Paris Accord on climate change.
Mr. Putin is now trying to use it as an advantage.
He stated in this context, "The issue," he has said, "is not stopping
it because that's impossible, since it could be tied to some global cycles on Earth or
of planetary significance.
… The issue is to somehow adapt to it."
Russia is building up its military presence in the region at a rapid pace to protect its
interests.
It now has seven bases along the shipping route, the latest being Northern Clover on
Kotelny Island, deep inside the Arctic.
The Russian military is spending significant resources to ram up its muscle in the Arctic
and the naval activities in the region have increased many folds.
Several military experts have been advocated much greater American presence in the Arctic.
The main reason is the growing Russian military activities in the region which has the potential
of significant economic interest in the future.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Arctic Council in May this year signaled the U.S
intentions.
His Arctic policy speech largely focused on the threats Russia posed to the region.
He stated, "Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught
with militarization and competing territorial claims?"
This latest military exercise indicates that the U.S plans to play be a much more active
role in the region.
Andrew Holland, Chief Operating Officer of the American Security Project, a U.S. security-focused
think tank explains, “These deployments add force to the speech
made by Secretary Pompeo in Finland earlier this year.
It shows an American military increasingly waking up to the need to maintain a presence
in the Arctic.
It’s long past-time for this”
U.S Navy Rear Admiral David Titley (ret.) stated in similar lines, “These actions
do give me some reason for cautious optimism that – whatever internal Navy and DoD dynamics
are playing out – there must see some senior officials who understand that, like it or
not, the Arctic is going to become an increasingly strategic waterway in the years and decades
ahead.“
It seems the American military is waking up to the need to maintain a presence in the
Arctic.
Ticonderoga class cruisers & Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for the backbone of U.S Navy and
hence it makes sense to send these to region keeping in mind the growing importance
USS Normandy is the only warship of Ticonderoga-class in the group and it has an overall length
of 567 ft or 173 m and displacement of about 9,600 tons.
It is designed as multi-role warship.
It has a speed of 32+ knots or 60+ km/h and a range of 6000 nm or 11000 km.
USS Normandy is equipped with AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar and host of other sensors.
It has 122 cell Mk 41 vertical launch system that can be equipped with a choice of different
weapons like RIM-66M-5 Standard SM-2MR Block IIIB for Air Defense & Anti Ship role , RIM-156A
SM-2ER Block IV for Anti Aircraft & Anti Ship role ,RIM-161 SM-3 for Ballistic missile defense
, RIM-162A ESSM for anti-missile role, RIM-174A Standard ERAM or SM 6 for anti-air warfare,
Tomahawk for land attack and VL-ASROC anti-submarine missile for anti submarine role.
USS Normandy also can deploy 2 × Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher for Anti Ship role.
The ship is equipped with two Mark 46 triple torpedo tubes.
Two MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III or Sikorsky SH-60B helicopters are also present for Anti Submarine
Warfare.
Other than it is equipped with a long-range naval gun for close-range offense.
It also has ‘Phalanx’ Close-In Weapon System for last-ditch missile defense.
USS Lassen, USS Forrest Sherman, and USS Farragut being Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer,
have an overall length of 505 ft or 155 m and displacement of about 8,900 tons.
The class is designed as multi-mission destroyer capable of Anti Aircraft Warfare (AAW), Anti
Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti Surface Warfare (ASuW).
Arleigh Burke-class has a speed of 30+ knots (55+ km/h) and a range of 4,400 nm or 8,100 km
The warship of this class has 90 cell Mk 41 VLS, which like those in Ticonderoga-class
can be used to deploy different types of weapons.
The other weapons are also similar to Ticonderoga-class.
As per reports, the engines of these warships are powerful enough to navigate through up
to 0.8 meters of ice, while their current hull design makes it suitable to pass through
up to 0.3 meters of ice.
The reinforcements in the hull, heating solutions and installation of de-icing system could
improve the mission capability of these warships in the Arctic.
In coming days, there is bound to be a major focus in the Arctic because of Northern Sea
Route.
Russia currently has the head start and seem to have a better understanding of future implications.
The U.S military has the advantage of much larger funding which is approximately 10 times
that of the Russian military.
The better funding should enable the American military to strengthen itself quickly in the
region.
This will be an interesting tussle.
It is to be noted here that the U.S & Russia are already much closer to a skirmish after
the nullification of the INF Treaty.
The INF Treaty eliminated around 2,700 nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their
launchers.
This was achieved by May 1991.
This included short-range missile with 310–620 mi that is 5000–1,000 km range and intermediate
range missile with 620–3,420 mi that is 1,000–5,500 km range.
The United State abandoned conformity to the INF treaty as of 2nd Aug 2019 as it accused
Russia of non-compliance and recently tested a cruise missile that would have been illegal
under the treaty.
It remains to be seen how things pan out in coming days.