China and Russia are pushing into the Arctic. Will NATO shift focus too?

When it comes to the activities of the Chinese and Russian militaries

your initial reaction could be to automatically turn your attention to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine

and China's consistent boundary pushing in the Indo-Pacific. And while we'd forgive you for doing that, limiting your field of view to those regions would be a mistake

That's because both countries are increasingly intent on developing a presence in the Arctic

So much so, this deepening collaboration between the world's second and third largest militaries

has the full attention of those charged with defending North America's northern tier

And that's the subject of this week's debrief. In mid-September of last year, Russia and China launched Ocean 24

a large-scale naval and air exercise that spanned the Pacific and Arctic Oceans

It involved over 400 warships, submarines, and support vessels with more than 120 aircraft and 90,000 troops

And oh yeah, around the same time, NORAD tracked four Russian military aircraft entering Alaska's air defense identification zone

This summer we had the Alaska Nuremberg region and myself countering the combined bomber patrol with the Chinese and the Russians conducting a bounce through Anadir to take a run at the Air Defense Identification Zone for Alaska and Canada and the U were shoulder to shoulder in that deterrent moment

and we were in position for that deterrent moment. Major General Chris McKenna, the Canadian NORAD Region Commander, was part of a panel at this year's AFA Warfare Symposium

called Northern Tier Defense that addressed the looming threat of Russian and Chinese incursions in the Arctic

Arctic security, in my view, is economic security, not just for Canada and the U.S.

but for our Euro-Atlantic partners, fundamentally economic security. So these are the threats and this is the context that I sort of live and fight in

In 2018, China declared itself a near-Arctic state as part of its strategy to gain influence

We should note that this title is self-proclaimed and not officially recognized by Arctic nations or international bodies

Nonetheless, China's northward push appears to be part of a broader strategy to assert dominance at the top of the world

In my mind, I think my biggest concern is this, that we fail to recognize the urge to speed up the pace to get back on track when it comes to the Arctic

when it comes to invest invest in our capability in our capability to operate in the Arctic as allied and partners and fail to really assess the atmosphere in the Arctic

I think that is the assessment part and the operational part is to me the most important part right now for us

For Major General Jonas Wickman, Chief of Staff of the Swedish Air Force

whose country is one of the newest members of NATO, the timing of their inclusion is a critical factor in defending the northern tier from Russian and Chinese incursions

We also add geography when it comes to early warning capabilities. I mean, we cover from, I think, 55 to 69 degrees north

That's kind of a wide area for early warning. We bring in-place geography when it comes to bases

We have air bases and we have spaceport north of the polar circle and we know how to operate that

And it's that diversity of defenses from the northern Pacific to the northern Atlantic

that potentially gives the United States and its allies an edge in the Arctic

Where Russia and China generally operate from a single system, they in turn will have to deal with far more than that

Now imagine an adversary having to approach it from hey what does SOB system do Maybe if there what is it that this system is going to look like to my screen to my you know to the sensing apparatus

They have to approach it from all of us. And I think that's very, very powerful, not only in terms of kind of the way we generate

information or process information, but also the way that we can then attack the problem

Because you can't just get to one of us without bypassing the others, right

And so I think that, again, that that to me seems like a great way to collaborate and just something that, you know, again, being the retired guy, love to see kind of that expansion of NATO bringing Sweden and Finland to the mix

If all of this sounds new to you, there's a reason for it. The Arctic hasn't been a major focus for U.S. defense spending in the past

This is probably because, except for Russia, most countries with claims in the region were U.S. allies

Beyond that, China only started developing its Arctic strategy in the last six years or so

While there's no denying the global politics in the Arctic are shifting

especially as climate change is making the waters easier to navigate, it might feel like the U.S. is falling behind in Arctic policy

But that's a perception that could soon be changing, especially as, at least for now, NATO continues strengthening its defensive plans in the region