How Russia is fortifying the Arctic

Siege warfare gets a 21st-century upgrade

Two weeks ago, in the quiet of an Arctic ice field, something unusual happened: A 360-foot-long nuclear submarine broke through the thick ice and surfaced. The USS Hartford, part of the Atlantic Fleet, pushed through the ice, its conning tower standing like a black monument in a vast landscape of blinding white.

It wasn't alone. Nearly two dozen U.S. military personnel, parachuted and flown in by helicopter from bases in Alaska, were waiting for the Hartford to make its grand entrance. The entire scene was part of ICEX 2016, or Ice Exercise 2016, designed to prepare the U.S. military to fight north of the Arctic Circle.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Kyle Mizokami is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Daily Beast, TheAtlantic.com, The Diplomat, and The National Interest. He lives in San Francisco.