Four senior Air Force leaders from the U.S. and allied nations discussed their combined efforts in deterring Russia in the Arctic during a panel at the Air Force Association's Air Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Sept. 17.
During the panel, U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. James Hecker, Commander of U.S. Northern Command Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham, Air Chief of the Swedish Air Force Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, and Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Maj. Gen. Øivind Gunnerud, made it clear - deterring Russia in the region will take a multi-pronged approach to include domain awareness, innovation in technology and a strengthened alliance.
Hecker, who also serves as the commander of NATO Allied Air Command, opened the discussion by highlighting Russia's military buildup along its Arctic coastline and noting the 55 ice breakers, 37 surface vessels, and eight nuclear submarines the nation currently has in inventory. By producing its own drones domestically, Russia can now launch 30-90 UAVs a day.
"That's a pretty big threat," Hecker said. "When you add that to the cruise missiles that they already have, and you look at what North Korea and Iran are providing them in the terms of ballistic missiles … it's a threat, not only for the Arctic, but for everybody."
Russia's increased activity has raised concerns for bordering countries.
"We should not forget that the Arctic region is the biggest arena for testing of new systems in Russia, that happens right in our backyard and we're trying to keep track of it," Gunnerud said. "What I find most disturbing is Russia is an Arctic country, and they're both willing to and capable of attacking a neighboring country."
According to Hecker, NATO's two new Arctic nations have made "invaluable" contributions in advancing military capabilities in the region - in February, Bomber Task Force 24-2 marked the first multi-day deployment of U.S. Air Force bomber aircraft to Sweden and two U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs made historic runway landings in Finland on Sept. 4.
"I think the number one deterrence that we have is the alliance," Hecker said. "When Putin invaded Ukraine we had 30 NATO nations in the alliance, now we have 32. We also went from six nations that were spending two percent of their [gross domestic product] to 23 nations that are spending two percent of their GDP. That's a significant increase, and we need to take that money and use it wisely to help deter in the Arctic."
The need for better information sharing and across domains is also critical.
"The ability to operate as you intend to fight from Day Zero is going to be really important for true deterrence, and I think that has to affect how we organize day-to-day work," Wikman said. "On a regional level, operating together to build that kind of culture and that kind of possibility is key to addressing the military problem in the Arctic region."
The panel ended with a discussion on the potential stand up of a third Combined Air Operations Center in the Arctic that would be used to enhance NATO's coordination and response capabilities in the region.
