- US Marines brave Arctic temperatures ahead of Joint Viking, the largest military exercise in Norway.
- About 10,000 troops from the US and NATO nations took part in the biennial cold weather training.
- Photos show Marines zooming on snowmobiles, trekking in skis, and plunging into icy waters.
US Marines spent the last few weeks enduring frigid temperatures ahead of the largest military exercise in Norway, readying for a fight in the high Arctic.
Joint Viking's objective is to boost NATO's power projection in the high Arctic, especially as Russia and China continue to demonstrate strategic interest in the region.
The Arctic warfare training aims to prepare troops for cold-weather combat, from learning how to maneuver in deep snow and mountainous terrain to conducting air and naval operations under Arctic conditions.
The military exercise also comes at a critical time as the climate crisis continues to melt ice in the region, forming new sea routes that could be key to both military and commercial strategy.
Arctic warfare
Led by the Norwegian military, Joint Viking takes place in early to mid-March in Troms, a country in northern Norway located about 250 miles west of the Norweigian-Russian border.
The Marine Corps will be among 10,000 troops participating in the biennial winter military exercise, which will also include armed forces from the UK, Canada, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands.
In Troms since January, the Marines will play a "significant role" in the cold-weather war games, testing how quickly they can mobilize and deploy a large force across the Atlantic in a crisis, the Corps said in a statement.
Russia's underlying Arctic threat
The war in Ukraine has forced Russia to reevaluate its military posturing in the Arctic, especially after enduring heavy losses in its land forces, according to an article published in the peer-reviewed journal, Arctic Review on Law and Politics.
Tormod Heier, a retired lieutenant colonel for the Norwegian Army, wrote that the Ukraine war acts as a sort of "Arctic tranquilizer," reducing tensions and the likelihood of direct confrontations between the US and Russia.
"This is partly due to fear of nuclear escalation but also due to strategic necessity: neither US nor Russian forces can afford an overstretch problématique in the contemporary international environment," Heier, who now works as an associate professor at the National Defence University in Stockholm, wrote. "As both protagonists forge self-imposed restraints, Russia's 2022 invasion has inadvertently led to more Arctic stability."
While Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine shifted some attention away from direct confrontation in the high north, the US and other NATO allies remain concerned about Moscow's ongoing military nuclear threat in the region, Heier wrote.
China-Russia collaboration in the Arctic
In 2018, China also forced its way into the Arctic power competition after it declared itself a "near-Arctic state" to justify its strategic interests in the region.
While Western nations rejected China's claim because it has no geographical territory in the region, Russia welcomed the country's presence in the high north. China has since focused its efforts on scientific research, energy investments, and strategic infrastructure development in the Arctic.
China's growing Arctic presence and close Russian ties have been seen as a potential threat by the US and other Arctic nations, using military exercises like Joint Viking as a "deterrent effect."
China "is one of the newer entrants on the scene. Over time, the strategic interests that they have in the region are … giving us pause," Iris Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and Global Resilience for the Biden administration, said in a December statement.
A new battlefield in the Arctic
Not only are the geopolitical tensions in the region ever-evolving, but the environment itself is reshaping as the climate crisis dramatically warms the Arctic at an unprecedented pace.
Melting ice is creating new shipping lanes along Russia's northern coast, potentially altering global trade routes. Growing access to resources, like oil, gas, and minerals that were recently impeded by ice, has led to countries, including the US, scrambling to stake their claim.
President Donald Trump's approach to Arctic policy has also heavily impacted the region, reversing climate regulations in favor of oil extraction and even expressing interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark as part of his national security strategy.
