Military competition in the Arctic has primarily been the province of submarines and air power for almost a century, but with a receding ice cap leaving this previously inaccessible ocean open to surface ships for longer spans, new trade routes are emerging.
These new sea lanes, which directly link three continents, promise to dramatically shorten shipping routes and boost global trade, similar to how the Suez and Panama canals did.
They also promise to be contested in a conflict, opening a new realm of warfare in a forbidding environment that Russia has long dominated by isolated proximity and through strategic investments in its Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command, which includes a standing fleet of 32 surface ships, 33 submarines, seven ports, numerous air stations, and two infantry bases directly on the Arctic Ocean….