US lawmakers are urging for more attention to the often-overlooked north of the Arctic Circle, as Air Force General Gregory Guillot, who leads the US armed forces’ Northern Command, warned that the country is severely falling behind Russia in the number of icebreaker ships needed for mobility in frozen waters.

Guillot confirmed at a congressional hearing of the US Committee on Armed Services this week that only one heavy icebreaker ship is available for the US to use in the Arctic. Russia has about 40.
 
“We do appreciate that the Coast Guard is procuring more icebreakers, but even with those, we will be severely outnumbered,” he said, adding, “That does limit our freedom of maneuver in that region.”

Russia is home to the longest Arctic coastline in the world, however, the US shares a significant border with the Arctic Ocean in the state of Alaska.

Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan said, “We need to make sure that we are trying to close a very very significant icebreaker gap,” adding, “Even China's icebreaker capacity is on pace to surpass ours in 2025, and they are not even an Arctic nation.”

In recent years, Russia has expanded its security presence in the Arctic region, which houses 2 million Russians, while speculation arose that the region could be the stage of war in future conflicts. 

Nikolay Korchunov, Russia's Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Cooperation, said back in May 2022 that the Arctic area has become an "international theater of military operations" since Finland and Sweden filed for NATO membership.

It was simultaneously reported that the US plans to invest billions in Arctic defense, including modernizing its Thule Air Base in Greenland, citing an American military report. The report detailed that neither Denmark nor Greenland had been informed of the plans.

A Polar Star's failure 

Icebreaker ships are designed with a specific shape and extra power to enable them to sail through polar sea ice, and the US’ only icebreaker ship, the Coast Guard’s 13,000-ton Polar Star, was commissioned approximately 50 years ago.

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The Coast Guard heavily relies on the Polar Star and the medium icebreaker ship USCGC Healy to open up routes in the Arctic. The Polar Star’s sister ship, named the Polar Sea, has been out of order since 2010 due to the failure of five of its six diesel engines.

On the other hand, Russia currently has nearly a dozen heavy nuclear-powered icebreaker ships on hand, and it is so far the only country to operate nuclear-powered icebreakers. Nuclear-powered ships Arktika and Sibir are classified as the most powerful icebreaker ships in the world.

According to NYT, Moscow is a respectable power in the Arctic, as Russia possesses naval bases and nuclear missiles in the Far North and in the Kola Peninsula, near Norway, which is where the majority of its nuclear submarines are situated.

The Northern Sea Route is inside Russia's exclusive economic zone, which enables shipments to reach their destination faster than if they traveled through the Suez Canal Route.

The US Coast Guard has requested more funds for operations in the Arctic region for the last 20 years, but Congressional action has been constantly postponed.