Four shipbuilding yards from the USA, Canada, and Finland have united into a shipbuilding alliance to create a US Coast Guard boat that can be operated in the Arctic. Thus, the collective West decided to counter the dominance of Russia and China in the northern region, writes military expert Shubhangi Palve in an article for the publication Eurasian Times.
The US Coast Guard has only 2 vessels that can operate in polar regions. The first is the heavy icebreaker Polar Star, which has been in operation since 1976. The second is the medium icebreaker Healy, which has been in use since 1999.
Both vessels form the basis of the US polar fleet, which is severely outdated compared to the fleets of other countries. For example, Russia claims control over the Northern Sea Route and has a powerful icebreaker fleet, including nuclear-powered vessels.
According to Palve, "this gives Moscow a practical advantage". The expert emphasized that "the US has neither the ships nor the influence to ensure a similar presence in the Arctic."
Without ships capable of operating in the Arctic year-round, the US will lag behind. But thanks to the shipbuilding alliance, there is a real chance to reduce this gap.
According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, the national group consists of 41 icebreakers, including 34 diesel-electric and 7 nuclear-powered. The most powerful in the world today are the new generation Project 22220 vessels ("Arktika", "Ural", and "Sibir").
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