US begins submarine exercises in Arctic
The US Navy has begun a five-week submarine exercise off the north coast of Alaska. The “Ice Exercises 2018” or ICEX18 will involve breaking through Arctic ice and the collection of scientific data.
“We are constantly testing new tactics, techniques and procedures under the ice, and this exercise will enable us to do this on a larger scale, alongside our British and academic partners,” said Rear Admiral James Pitts, commander of the Undersea Warfare Development Center.
The Navy will establish a temporary camp on the ice in the Beaufort sea roughly 240-280 kilometers north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
The camp will have portable tents that can house more than 50 people, and will serve as a temporary command center for under-ice navigation, torpedo tests and research.
The Seawolf-class USS Connecticut and the Los Angeles-class USS Hartford fast attack submarines will participate in the exercise, and will be joined by the British Trafalgar-class HMS Trenchant.
The vessels will carry out multiple crossings in the Arctic, surface near the North Pole, collect scientific data, and undergo other training, the Navy said.
Such maneuvers are done once every two years.
In Autumn 2018 NATO will conduct the Trident exercises in Europe, the largest exercises since the Cold War. The drills will involve roughly 45,000 soldiers from NATO member-states, as well as dozens of ships and planes, in order to repel a “simulated threat”.