US looking to create single naval approach for Arctic operations

US Coast Guard Cutter Forward (WMEC 911) steams near an iceberg in the Atlantic in support of ‘Operation NANOOK'. (US Coast Guard)

Having been successful in blurring the lines of US naval command responsibilities for Atlantic Ocean theatres, the US Navy (USN) is looking to create a similar single approach for ensuring US interests and national security in Arctic regions, according to Admiral Daryl Caudle, US commander of Fleet Forces Command, Naval Forces Northern Command (NAVNORTH), Naval Forces Strategic Command, and Strategic Command Joint Force Maritime Component Commander.

When Adm Caudle took over as commander of these naval components in December 2021, he set out to erase the line dividing areas of responsibility for the Atlantic.

“One of the challenges is that in the middle of the Atlantic, you have NORTHCOM [Northern Command] on one side [and] EUCOM [European Command] on the other side,” Adm Caudle told Janes on 25 September in an interview at US Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.

“We've been able to dissolve that,” he said, noting increased co-ordination, collaboration, and seamless sharing of resources by the different combatant commanders.

Adm Caudle said he wants to do the same in the Arctic, where geographic divisions are even more pronounced than they were in the Atlantic.

“That [division] goes on steroids in the Arctic,” he noted.

Historically, EUCOM has controlled territory up the coast to Russia, NORTHCOM has been responsible for the region ranging from the North Pole to the Bering Sea, while south of the Bering into the Pacific has been Indo-Pacific Command's (INDOPACOM's) responsibility.