Breaking news
Canadian army would like to boost its military presence in the Arctic Region 12905161.
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Defence & Security News - Canada
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| Canadian army would like to boost its military presence in the Arctic Region. | |||
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The Canadian army would like to boost its military presence in the Arctic Region and expands its Arctic Training Center, opened in 2013, in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. The facility, which can house and support 120 soldiers, has been used only in the winter months.
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 Canadian soldiers during the NOREX 2015 military exercise. |
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Arctic rich oil and gas reserves are enticing to world powers that have overlapping claims in the region. Alongside Canada, the US, Russia, Denmark and Norway all have Arctic ambitions.
Russia has also many interests in the Arctic, but perhaps the biggest are natural resources and basic geopolitical imperatives. The Arctic is thought to contain about 30 percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil. To Moscow, the reserves could prove to be a critical source of foreign investment that will drive economic development. Since 2015, Russia has finished equipping six new military bases throughout the Arctic in a move to recreate the country's military presence to levels it had during the Cold War, Russian news agency Tass reports. Over the past fifteen years, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has been rebuilding its capacity to operate in the Arctic. For the Canadian Army this has meant establishing a number of small, but well trained, reserve and permanent force units designed for rapid and agile response. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is about to begin construction of its Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS), which will offer a valuable constabulary, research, and general use platform to the RCN as well as other government departments and agencies with Arctic mandates. In the twenty-first century, the Arctic has regained a place of prominence on Canada’s policy agenda. As climate change strips the region of its ice cover1 the dangers and opportunities presented by increasingly accessible resources and sea routes are becoming more apparent. In response, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has been called upon to enhance its presence in the region as a means of defending Canadian sovereignty and security against a myriad of potential threats. In March 2015, Canadian armed forces have conducted the military exercise NOREX 2015 to test the mobility, sustainability and survivability of 4th Canadian Division’s Arctic Response Company Group augmented by the Immediate Response Unit, and is aimed at maintaining an Arctic response capability. |
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