David Dunlop, 7 April 2021 CNN has recently reported on Russia’s massive build-up of its military in the Arctic region. The Cold War bases are being retrofitted and new bases being rapidly being built in support of the Air Force and Naval fleets. Russia is also expanding its network of […]
arctic
49 posts
Timothy Choi, 22 February 2021 The first Arctic & Offshore Patrol Ship, HMCS Harry Dewolf, is currently conducting cold weather and ice trials in Frobisher Bay off Nunavut. With much anticipation, photos are coming out showing the ship in "its natural habitat". All photos taken by Cpl David Veldman, CF […]
David Dunlop, 02 December 2020. According to Leadmark 2050, “To meet defence and security challenges in the coming decades, Canada’s maritime forces will need to become better equipped for Maritime operations to maintain our sovereignty and conduct peace-support operations, including rendering humanitarian assistance and relieving distress from the sea.” Successive […]
Dr. Ann Griffiths, 30 September 2020. There’s an interesting article in Foreign Affairs (29 September 2020) by Robert David English and Morgan Grant Gardner called “Phantom Peril in the Arctic: Russia Doesn’t Threaten the United States in the Far North – But Climate Change Does.” It’s about “ideologically driven threat […]
This week both the American and Canadian governments released the details of a “Tri-Command Framework for Arctic Cooperation” that would more closely coordinate the work of the U.S. Northern Command, Canada’s Joint Operational Command and NORAD in the arctic. While noting that the arctic region is not an area of […]
Lee Berthiaume’s Postmedia News article on 8 May, entitled “Armed Arctic vessels face delay in latest procurement setback,” reports a further three-year delay in procurement of these ships. If true – the NDHQ procurement website continues to quote an in-service date of 2016 for the first ship - that is […]
* Moderator’s Note: This article was original published in The Nova Scotian on 15 April 2012. Many of you are familiar with my role as the Commander of Naval Forces in the Atlantic Region. What you may not be aware of is that this is but one of four hats […]
The problem with the ships Senator Kenny wants 'axed' is that they are not just ice-capable ships: they are a hybrid design for both arctic and offshore patrol work. Arctic operations require high endurance: lots of capacity for supplies plus hauling all waste by-products out again. Fuel is an especially […]
Senator Colin Kenny’s remarks this week (as reported by Murray Brewster in the Toronto Star, “Tory Arctic ship plan should be sunk, replaced with real icebreakers: senator,” and Paul MacLeod in the Herald News, “Arctic patrol ships ‘dumb’,”) has raised a lot of interest in what capabilities are envisioned for […]
Moderator’s Note: This article was original published in The Chronicle Herald on 12 February 2012. Many of you who have followed the National Ship Procurement Strategy (NSPS) announcements will no doubt have heard that the first contract to be negotiated will be for a new class of ship, the Arctic/Offshore […]