Cold Front: Special Operations Forces Bracing For Arctic Missions
For the past two decades, U.S. Special Operations Forces have deployed to some of the most dangerous and inhospitable places on the planet to combat terrorist networks
(Photo Credit : by Visual Information Specialist Chris Desmond)
In 2019, the Defense Department released its latest Arctic Strategy, which noted the important role for special operators
(Photo Credit : by Visual Information Specialist Chris Desmond)
“DoD’s desired end-state for the Arctic is a secure and stable region in which U.S. national security interests are safeguarded, the U.S. homeland is defended, and nations work cooperatively to address shared challenges,” the document said. “The agile and expeditionary nature of SOF, combined with established allied and partner relations and interoperability, provides DoD a ready capability to compete below the level of armed conflict in the Arctic region, and across the spectrum of SOF core activities.”
Special operators have played a central role in the post-9/11 wars conducting direct assault missions, the most famous being the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But unless terrorist groups set up shop in the High North, SOF will play more of a supporting role in the Arctic using a wide range of skill sets, officials and analysts say.
“We do a lot of stuff, and frankly, the majority of what we are assigned in the SOF community are missions that are in support of the general purpose forces, who obviously in the Arctic will … be the biggest chunk of the American activity there,” said Steve Bucci, a retired Special Forces officer and a defense analyst with the Heritage Foundation think tank. “Pretty much all of the missions we can do anywhere else, we can do in the Arctic; … we’ll just do it in a lot colder environment with a lot more challenge to get it done.”
U.S. Special Operations Forces include Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Raiders, Special Tactics airmen and other elements.
“If an adversary in the Arctic context, whether it be Russia or China, took over an area or was threatening an area that way, we could go and assist [allies] with unconventional warfare to help try and liberate” an area, Bucci said. “Or if they’re threatening it with some of their gray zone-type operations, we could put our guys in there to go in and do counterinsurgency or counter-unconventional warfare.”
SOF might be told to “go in, blow up a radar site or something like that that might be hindering our more conventional brothers and sisters” in the armed forces, Bucci said.
“The Arctic environment is going to be pretty tough on special operations units,” Bucci said. Commandos will need to carry more equipment such as special cold weather survival gear, he noted. “And if you’re … skiing or pulling Ahkios [sleds] and all that stuff, that’s really tough.”
Additionally, soldier equipment and platforms such as aircraft and ground vehicles might not function as well.
“Weapons first and foremost,” Bucci said. “The whole lubrication challenge changes. Lubricants that work at normal temperatures, when you get to really extremely cold ones, can actually cause malfunctions because they kind of gunk up … and solidify.”
“The first SOF truth is that humans are more important than hardware”
(Photo Credit : by Visual Information Specialist Chris Desmond)
(Photo Credit : by Visual Information Specialist Chris Desmond)
While technology is important, it’s not a cure-all for the challenges that the United States faces in the Arctic, said Idaho University Professor Lilian “Doc” Alessa, a Defense Department advisor.
Special operators have a unique ability to develop networks working with allies, the private sector and academia, as well as local populations and indigenous peoples, she said. “They can vector in the right people at the right time with the right information and the right context to … build the collaboration network” that is needed to improve situational awareness and cooperation in that region, she added.“ It requires working with communities in situ, viewing them as partners in the security and defense enterprise,” Alessa said.
Communication can also be a problem, as high latitudes are not covered by satellites in geostationary orbit, and disruptions can be caused by icing on radio antennas or by heavy seas. Beyond-line-of-sight comms can be challenging, noted Air Force Special Operations Command Commander Lt. Gen. James Slife.
“We just have to go back and relearn some lessons about different waveforms that we may have moved away from in the past, or exploring new waveforms and new frequency bands that allow us to communicate at long distance at those high latitudes,” Slife told reporters during a media roundtable.
“European nations once again face threatening neighbors with potentially expansive intent,” SOCEUR Commander Maj. Gen. Kirk Smith wrote in the foreword to the publication. “Even those with strong alliances and friends do not necessarily have the power to prevent incursion.”