NORAD Arctic air defence exercises to begin
US and Canadian air forces will begin a week-long Arctic exercise today.
The joint exercise, Amalgam Dart, will begin today and run through March 26. The exercise is run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which routinely conducts exercises to prepare for airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responses to unknown aircraft in the Arctic.
As a strategic region with military uses, natural resources and shipping lanes, the Arctic is becoming a battleground between the US, Russia and, increasingly, China. In January, the US Navy published its Blue Arctic strategy that aims to focus on “day-to-day” competition with Russia and China in the region. Now, all four US military branches have their own Arctic strategies.
Aggressive Russian land claims, extending approximately 200 nautical miles into the Arctic Sea, may soon expand. These claims, made under the UN Commission on the Limit of the Continental Shelf, are bumping up against North American and Greenlandic maritime claims. One of the US air force bases involved in Amalgam Dart is in Greenland and, following the 2020 reopening of the US consulate in Greenland, expect US-Danish military relations to expand as Denmark (which has sovereignty over Greenland) becomes a key partner in securing the Arctic.
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