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No ice-hardened ships for US Navy
GAO concurs with Navy report saying that US Arctic defense needs can be met using conventional warships and military aircraft
Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report concurring with a report published by the U.S. Navy, finding that the Navy does not require ice-hardened vessels in order to be able to execute the Department of Defense’s Arctic strategy. The findings come in contrast to the strategy of the U.S. Coast Guard, which has identified the need for new polar icebreakers, in support of the Coast Guard’s Arctic mission.
The Arctic defense strategy aims to ensure the security of the Arctic region and promote defense cooperation, while also being prepared to respond to challenges, to maintain stability in the region. But the Department of Defense sees little military threat in the Arctic. And Arctic nations have made a commitment to work within a framework of diplomatic engagement.
The Navy sees itself as capable of responding to any credible military threat in the Arctic using the military assets that it already has at its disposal. The Navy’s surface fleet is unsuitable for operations in sea-ice conditions, given inadequate hull strength for dealing with ice and the vulnerability of a vessel’s top-side infrastructure becoming iced up. However, the Navy can operate submarines in the Arctic and could bring in military aircraft if necessary. In addition, the United States does have Coast Guard vessels designed for Arctic operation, the Department of Defense says.
Compromising vessel performance Navy officials have also commented that the features needed to make a vessel ice capable may compromise other performance characteristic of the ship, such as speed, range and motion. That in turn would impact the Navy’s ability to meet its commitment to a global naval presence. The GAO also commented that the Navy has a history of facing challenges meeting shipbuilding goals and that building ice-capable surface ships would introduce new challenges in terms of cost and schedule risks.
In terms of the background to the Navy’s strategy for defense in the Arctic, the GAO report comments that the extent of Arctic sea ice is on a downward trend as the region warms. Increased economic activity in the Arctic, as major sea lanes across the region open, could increase the need for military capabilities to protect U.S. interests. And there are vast undeveloped resources in the region, including oil, gas and various metals. But sea ice will remain a major challenge for decades to come, with large amounts of winter ice coupled with increased ice movement posing risks to ships operating in the region. Thus, the Navy has projected that the Arctic will remain impassable for most commercial ships for most of the year until at least 2030, the GAO says.
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