The United States, Canada, and Finland are teaming up to strengthen their icebreaker fleets to enhance their Arctic defenses against growing Russian activity, as announced at a recent NATO summit. This new pact includes sharing knowledge on icebreaker production and training workers across the three countries, while encouraging allies to purchase icebreakers from them. With the U.S. only having two aging icebreakers compared to Russia’s 36, this collaboration aims to project power in the Arctic and prevent adversaries like Russia and China from gaining an advantage. As the disputed climate change opens up the Arctic, the urgency for more icebreakers has never been greater, and a formal agreement is expected by the end of the year.

The United States, Canada, and Finland have teamed up to strengthen their icebreaker fleets to better protect the Arctic region, especially as Russia becomes more active there. This new agreement was announced at a NATO summit and aims to improve cooperation on building polar icebreakers.

The plan involves sharing information about icebreaker production and training workers in each country’s shipyards. The three countries also want to encourage other allies to buy icebreakers from American, Canadian, or Finnish manufacturers.

Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser in the White House, emphasized that this collaboration sends a strong message to Russia and China. He stated that the U.S. and its allies are committed to working together to enhance their industrial capabilities and maintain a competitive edge in the Arctic.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis in February 2022, Russia has sought closer ties with China, while the West has attempted to isolate Russia economically. Singh warned that without this new agreement, adversaries could gain an advantage in crucial technology related to icebreakers, which are vital for Arctic operations.

Currently, the U.S. has only two icebreakers, both of which are aging. In contrast, Finland has 12 and Canada has 9, while Russia boasts an impressive fleet of 36. This discrepancy highlights the need for the U.S. to boost its capabilities in the Arctic.

During the NATO summit, President Joe Biden of the U.S., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and President Alexander Stubb of Finland discussed the pact. The summit focused on strategies to counter Russia’s aggression.

Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier noted in a February talk that the U.S. needs around eight to nine icebreakers to effectively patrol the Arctic. Currently, construction of new icebreakers is underway, with test panels being built in Mississippi.

As climate change makes the Arctic more accessible, the demand for American icebreakers is growing. Notably, the U.S. has not built a heavy polar icebreaker in nearly 50 years, with the last major vessels commissioned in the 1970s and 1990s.

The three nations plan to finalize their agreement with a memorandum of understanding by the end of the year.

While the U.S. has a legitimate need for icebreakers, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cast the new pact as a counter to the capacity of Russia to build icebreakers and offer them to other countries.

 I think this is a very exciting initiative. The ICE Pact is a pact between the U.S., Canada, and Finland, about enhancing the collective capacity of our three countries to build icebreakers at a time when we are seeing an increasing need for those icebreakers from partners around the world who want to operate in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions and can operate there with greater freedom than before because of the impacts of climate change.

And, yes, there are authoritarian nations that are making or offering the icebreakers to the world, want to corner the icebreaker market. We’re determined to have democracies be in the lead in producing icebreaking capabilities. Both Canada and Finland have considerable experience in shipyards and producing icebreakers. The U.S. is currently producing icebreakers for our Coast Guard, but we would like to expand that to include building icebreakers here in the United States, American-made with American jobs, to sell to countries around the world as well.

All three of us stand to benefit from this. But beyond that, we then will have the industrial base for a capability that has both economic and strategic purposes. And democracies need that, and the U.S. is happy to be at the center of it.

Also, if we can make this work — and I believe we can make it work — then it becomes a model for other forms of shipbuilding as we go forward. Other types of capabilities that we can partner with democracies on it becomes a new model for how the United States can both rebuild its own shipbuilding industry and also ensure that we have the industrial base as the West to be able to produce the necessary types of every kind of ship needed for economic and security purposes in the future.

– National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan

Apart from the Arctic region, NATO is expanding its tentacles in the Arab World and Asia as well. As GreatGameInternational reported earlier, NATO has just opened its first-ever liaison office in the Arab world, located in Jordan, marking a significant shift in its strategy towards the Middle East. As part of its Asian NATO strategy, Japan is being mobilised into confrontation with China.