Alaska

DUTY, HONOR, COURAGE, RESILIANCE

Talking Proud: Service & Sacrifice

‍Alaska: “Meet presence with presence”

‍Greenland has been a distraction

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‍Introduction

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‍Alaska has long been insulated from global geopolitics. This is no longer the case. The ice shields of the Arctic region are “softening.” The region is becoming more hospitable to sea navigation and exploration of oil and coveted minerals, which in turn is causing international competition and potentially military and security rivalry.

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‍There are two main maritime routes through this softening of Arctic ice,

‍Northern Sea Route (NSR) along the Russian Siberian-Arctic coastline

‍Northwest Passage (NWP) through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

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‍Both routes are available during limited times of the year, and each offers significant savings in navigation distance and time.

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‍There is a third route, known as the Transpolar Sea Route (TSR). It is navigable only by heavy icebreakers, so I set it aside for the moment.

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‍Russia controls the NSR with an iron fist, viewing it as a national transportation route. The NSR is currently the most commercially attractive. The NSR passes through potentially lucrative oil and natural gas fields, and Russia is expected to develop the vast Siberian region for valuable minerals as well.

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‍The Chinese are taking increasing advantage of the NSR for commercial shipping, and their military presence in the region is growing as a result.

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‍Marc V. Schanz, a defense and aerospace writer, has said, “A changing Arctic climate has uncorked a flurry of activity in the region as once inaccessible resources now seem ready for exploitation.”

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‍Alaska has made the US an Arctic nation. There are seven others, six of which are NATO allies, plus Russia. China has said it is a “near Arctic state.” Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and, believe it or not, India and Turkey are all getting their oar in. They are well aware of the energy resources and strategic minerals that will be developed in the Arctic, and they want to participate.

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‍A Harvard Kennedy School workshop on the Arctic coined the phrase, “Arctic FOMO,” meaning “Fear Of Missing Out.” The workshop added, “Many actors now vie for status and increasingly see the Arctic as a kind of prize to be won.”

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‍This report focuses on Alaska. About 738,000 people live there. The northern one-third lies above the Arctic Circle. The Beaufort Sea lies to the north; the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, and Russia to the west; the Gulf of Alaska to the south; and Canada’s Northwest Territories and British Columbia to the east. The North Pole is about 1,300 miles from Point Barrow, Alaska.

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‍Alaska is roughly equidistant from the major cities of East Asia, Europe, and North America. Alaska is closer to Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, and New Delhi than Washington, DC.

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‍Artur Chilingarov, a Russian polar explorer, said in 2007, “The Arctic has always been Russian.” Chilingarov was alluding to a Russian submarine expedition that planted a Russian flag under the North Pole in August 2007.

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‍The US Coast Guard would take issue with Mr. Chilingarov. Its ships and aircraft are a highly visible presence in offshore Alaska. The USCG Arctic District, headquartered in Juneau, has established “Operation Frontier Sentinel” to “meet presence with presence” and ensure there are no disruptions to US interests in the Alaskan maritime environment.

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‍I love that phrase: “Meet presence with presence.” That’s what the USCG does.

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‍Greenland has dominated the headlines of late. I might argue, as others have, that Greenland is a distraction. Our NATO allies can manage that region, and the US should participate.

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‍But the North Pacific is a different ball of wax. There is a multitude of non-NATO players with widely varied interests populating the Indo-Pacific. Alaska is a centerpiece of the maritime lanes between East and West.

‍The Bering Strait, bordering Alaska, is becoming a global chokepoint. It is a strategic maritime corridor, 51 miles wide, with depths ranging from 98 to 160 ft.

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‍Alaska has geostrategic significance. It is an American state, and merits our full attention.

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Establishing presence in the Arctic

The USCG has the most visible presence in the waters off Alaska and in the Arctic Ocean. Its Arctic District has a clear theme: “meet presence with presence.” That’s what it does.

Its “Operation Frontier Sentinel" ensures there are no disruptions to US interests in the Alaskan maritime environment.

Maritime traffic using the NSR has to pass through the Bering Strait and under the Coast Guard’s watchful eyes.

The Russians have worked hard and invested boatloads of money to bring the NSR to market. Transit voyages have increased and will continue to increase. Russia and its energy companies are developing major natural gas fields in the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas and oil fields in the Taymyr Peninsula. The NSR offers multiple ports to receive these energy products and deliver them to ports in Asia and Europe. In addition, China is building its container ship fleet, filled with its export products, and it is using the NSR. The Chinese have cut two weeks of transit time from Shanghai to the Baltic.

As technologies develop, undersea infrastructure is growing in importance. Undersea communications infrastructure stands out. Several mega-projects are underway to connect Europe and Asia through the Arctic region. Russia is working to connect its Arctic port towns to the internet, extending for about 8,000 miles.

The Russians and Chinese are not about to leave all this to the goodwill of the US. They are flexing their military muscles in Alaska’s Arctic. China is working to build expertise in the Arctic, while Russia seeks to protect its economic interests in its vast Arctic holdings and put the US at risk.

Russian and Chinese air and naval forces have stepped up their presence in the Arctic region. This has caused the USCG to implement Operation Frontier Sentinel to meet their presence with American presence.

In September 2018, Chinese forces participated in the Vostok 2018 strategic military exercise, which spanned all Russian military commands and the Bering Sea, the Sea of Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia said over 300,000 troops were involved, reportedly the largest ever. Some observers believe Russian leaders exaggerated this total, but it was a significant exercise nonetheless.

Arctic Ocean-based ships from the Northern Fleet participated and operated in the Bering Sea off Russia’s eastern coast during Vostok 2018. The USCG actively monitored Russian naval vessels operating in the Bering Sea.

The Chinese sent a Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence (AGI) ship to shadow the Russian ships during the at-sea portion of the Vostok 2018 exercise. The US Naval Institute reported that the Chinese ship was “uninvited,” but it came anyway.

Eight ships lined up in battle formation while passing through the Bering Strait and engaged in anti-submarine training. The Russians conducted land force movements across the Chukchi Peninsula to the Pacific coast and conducted amphibious landings near Alaska and its Aleutian Chain of islands.

The Aleutian chain comprises 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller ones, with the westernmost, Attu Station, located some 1,600 miles southwest of Anchorage and 600 miles from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

Chinese Navy ships first appeared in the Bering Strait in 2015 when five ships, including one amphibious ship, a replenishment vessel, and three surface combatants, were seen.

A flotilla of Chinese military ships was spotted in the Bering Strait and off the Aleutian Islands in 2021.

In 2022, the USCG encountered a Chinese guided-missile destroyer about 75 miles north of Alaska’s Kiska Island, and later spotted two more Chinese and four Russian naval ships operating near the Aleutian Islands within the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), conducting anti-submarine and anti-aircraft exercises.

In August 2023, including destroyers, an intelligence collection ship, and other support vessels, were seen in the Strait.

The Chinese were very active in the Arctic in 2024. Three Chinese Coast Guard cutters sailed north through the Bering Strait alongside two Russian Border Guard ships. This was the first Chinese Coast Guard voyage into Arctic waters.

In July, the USCG detected three vessels approximately 124 miles north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands and a fourth vessel approximately 84 miles north of the Amukta Pass.

Also in July, the Russo-China duo flew two Russian Tu-95MS and two Chinese H-6K bombers escorted by Russian fighters near Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), about 200 miles from the Alaskan coast. Both aircraft are nuclear-capable. USAF and Canadian fighters intercepted them. This was the first time the two have flown such a flight together, the first time Chinese bombers used a Russian air base, and the first time they approached American territory.

In August, vessels conducted research in US Arctic waters.

In September, a USCG cutter on patrol in the Chukchi Sea observed a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy-class frigate, and a Seliva-class tug transiting southeast along the Russian side of the maritime boundary line (MBL).

In August 2025, the USCG tracked five Chinese Research Vessels operating in the Bering Sea and Bering Strait and continued tracking them into February 2026.

This activity, now recurring regularly, prompted Admiral Samuel Paparo, USN, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, to recommend reactivating military installations on Shemya and Adak, Alaska. He believed Navy maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft could significantly improve coverage of the area. Adak also has a deepwater port, three piers, two 7,000-ft. runways, and support buildings. Shemya, the westernmost outpost of the Aleutians, once hosted a signals intelligence (SIGINT) site.

Analysts say that combined Chinese and Russian ground, air, and naval exercises are now regular and are held in both Russia and China. They expect them to conduct strategic air and naval patrols soon.

China considers the Aleutian Islands as part of the First Island Chain extending from the Aleutians in the northeast down through the Philippine archipelago in the southwest. The Chinese feel the US uses the First Island Chain as a barrier. Therefore, they see the Bering Strait and Aleutian Islands as strategically important.

US military in Alaska

John J. Hamre, an international relations scholar, has said,

“Alaska is … the most underappreciated defense resource we have … because it is sitting squarely providing the missile defense for America.”

Alaska has a well-established military infrastructure, including 32 military facilities and 12 major bases and stations. More than 21,000 military members are assigned to duty in Alaska.

The Air Force has the largest presence, but the Army’s presence is also significant.

US Naval presence has not been substantial, but I expect Naval interests to grow.

Admiral Daryle Caudle, USN, CNO, said back in 2024, “My goal is for the Navy to have a footprint there (the Arctic). We want to do things on the surface.” He looks to obtain a year-round presence.

Admiral John Richardson, USN (Ret.), while he was the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), said,

“We want to make sure that as navigation channels open up, consistent with our sovereign responsibilities — we are an Arctic nation — that we are getting up and remaining familiar with operating in that high north.”

Admiral Karl Schultz, the USCG commandant, added,

“Doing something where we sortie a Coast Guard cutter with a Navy ship, you know, above the Arctic Circle. We’d be very interested in that … I think in the Arctic right now, if we did something with the Navy, it’s more about just showing our ability to project capability up there.”

The USS Harry Truman (CVN 75) aircraft carrier went above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea and the high North Atlantic in 2018. The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Strike Group operated in the Gulf of Alaska in 2025.

In September 2025, the USS Gerald Ford (CVN 78) operated above the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea. During this foray, two USN guided missile destroyers and three Norwegian naval vessels entered the Barents Sea, which lies above the Arctic Circle, while NATO air forces scrambled to locate and track three Russian attack submarines operating near the USS Ford.

As mentioned earlier, I believe NATO can handle sending its naval surface ships into the Arctic above Norway. The USN needs to get to work above the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea. USN submarines, of course, have been going up there since 1958.

The U.S. joint unified command Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. It plans, organizes, and executes homeland defense and civil support missions, but has few permanently assigned forces.

NORTHCOM also commands the combined US-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). It is responsible for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for Canada, Alaska, and the continental United States. NORTHCOM’s area of responsibility stretches from Mexico through the Arctic, and now includes Greenland.

Greenland’s inclusion in NORTHCOM occurred in June 2025. Greenland was previously part of the European Command (EUCOM). The move signifies that the US considers it part of homeland defense, even though it belongs to Denmark. It is an interesting move, as USNORTHCOM has assumed responsibility for defending Greenland, which Denmark considers its own responsibility and that of NATO. This action may or may not elevate Greenland’s visibility in US defense planning.

A subordinate unified command known as the Alaska Command (ALCOM) is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER). It is subordinate to NORTHCOM.

Let’s switch over to the Army and Air Force.

Central Alaska’s interior and the Gulf of Alaska host the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex (JPARC), which offers all-domain training for all the military services and US allies. The USAF is seeking to expand the JPARC airspace to be more welcoming to modern aircraft and combat capabilities.

The US Army Garrison at Fort Greely, Alaska, operates the ground-based midcourse defense system (GMD). This system is intended to defend the homeland against intermediate- and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). GMD is designed to destroy incoming warheads during the midcourse phase. The system is envisioned primarily for accidental and rogue missile launches. GMD has a mixed testing record, with a 50 percent success rate, and is effective only against small-scale threats.

The 11th Airborne Division is in Alaska, with one brigade at Fort Richardson and another at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. The division is available for deployment throughout the Indo-Pacific region but trains extensively in cold-weather, mountainous, and high-altitude environments.

The 11th Airborne Division hosts the Northern Warfare Training Center (NWTC) southeast of Fairbanks to train ground forces in cold-weather and mountain warfare. The Donnelly Training Area near Fort Greely, also southeast of Fairbanks, is used for parachute drops, live-fire exercises, and cold-weather equipment testing.

There are two important air bases in Alaska, one at JBER in Anchorage on the coast of the Gulf of Alaska, and the other at Eielson AFB at Fairbanks in east-central Alaska. Between the two, there are over 100 F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft.

These military capabilities can project power into the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic High North, two critical regions that intersect in Alaska. Alaska is at the heart of strategic competition for resources and influence.

The US has been pivoting toward Asia and the Indo-Pacific since 2011. Russia and China are doing the same. The key to this pivot is a strong and credible American presence in and around the Arctic, especially in the Alaskan Arctic. The slow thawing of Arctic ice shows that the global environment is changing, yet again. Many important countries in the Indo-Pacific are challenging the status quo, and Alaska is gaining prominence as well.

It is not possible to position US military forces forward throughout Asia. Still, the US has done so in Alaska, which guards one of two significant chokepoints between Asia and Europe, the Bering Strait.

Pravda, a Russia news outlet, carried an article on February 20, 2026 speculating on the possibility of a tunnel connecting Alaska with Russia. There is considerable sketpicism about the idea. It is striking that Pravda would raise the idea formally.