North American Arctic defense could shape outcome of Indo-Pacific conflict

Capt. Christopher Rierson/U.S. Special Operations Command North

The North American Arctic is emerging as a key strategic space for the United States and its Allies and Partners. Protecting the focal point could determine the outcome of any potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia seek to contain and isolate the U.S. to prevent it from projecting power abroad.

The North American Arctic is a focus for geopolitical competition, with the PRC and Russia asserting their interests in the region. The PRC, although not an Arctic nation, is investing in capabilities to exploit the region for strategic purposes and seeks to participate in its governance and economy.

The Arctic focus is heightened by a steady melting of the polar ice cap, enhancing shipping access to the resource-rich and strategically critical region that once was largely ignored, hidden beneath frozen terrain. Arctic temperatures are rising as much as four times faster than the global average, studies show.

As part of its One Belt, One Road infrastructure scheme, the PRC is expanding naval operations in an attempt to secure sea lanes for a growing shipping industry, leveraging dual-use military and research vessels to increase Chinese Communist Party military engagement and Arctic domain awareness. Growing cooperation between the PRC and Russia, as evidenced by recent combined maritime and bomber patrols, could undermine Arctic stability, potentially leading to misunderstandings and miscalculations.

The North American Arctic holds critical defense infrastructure for the U.S. and its Allies and Partners, including long-range radars essential to domain awareness and Indo-Pacific capabilities positioned in Alaska. Should a regional conflict expand into the Arctic, the U.S. could face domain awareness disruption across Alaska, and disruption of power projection infrastructure that could compromise deployment of advanced capabilities to the Indo-Pacific and other theaters.

Such scenarios are driving a resurgence of the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) focus on the North American Arctic. As outlined in the DOD’s 2024 Arctic Strategy, U.S. Special Operations Forces (USSOF) are critical to advancing capabilities and mitigating threats to defense infrastructure.

U.S. Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) plans and executes USSOF missions in North America. SOCNORTH focuses on identifying malign activity, contesting global chokepoints, enhancing all-domain awareness and enabling integrated deterrence in cooperation with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and other combatant and special operations commands.

To address growing concerns in the Arctic, SOCNORTH recently executed two phases of Operation Polar Dagger, an operational series that demonstrates rapidly deployable, joint SOF capabilities throughout the North American Arctic. It forms the basis of options to deter, disrupt and deny adversary activity in support of U.S. Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) layered defense of the U.S. homeland.

More than 200 USSOF and conventional forces deployed across the North American Arctic in mid-2024 to operate in the maritime, air and land domains. The operations enhance USNORTHCOM’s deterrence posture and domain awareness, while also validating USSOF proficiency in cold weather and austere environments.

In 2023 and 2024, SOCNORTH and the U.S. Navy partnered to deploy the amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha and the USS John L. Canley, an expeditionary sea base vessel that supports SOF operations and other maritime missions, to the Bering Sea and the Arctic Circle to support Operation Polar Dagger. USSOF is enhancing its navigation expertise in Arctic terrain and has demonstrated the ability to thrive in the region by executing long-range movements, maritime interdiction operations, rapid infiltration/exfiltration, air-to-ground integration, critical infrastructure defense, domain awareness, and medical evacuation validation, among other engagements.

As home to capabilities such as aerospace and maritime control and warning systems, as well as strategically significant maritime chokepoints, the North American Arctic is vital to homeland defense, according to the DOD’s 2024 strategy. The region also is integral to Indo-Pacific operations as the northern flank for force projection from the U.S. homeland.

Through operations such as Polar Dagger, SOCNORTH iteratively evaluates and integrates capabilities that underpin homeland defense and enable forward operations. With highly proficient multidomain SOF and conventional forces conducting operations in the North American Arctic, the U.S. can deploy at-will capabilities to operate effectively in the Arctic while securing U.S. strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific.