Canada wants 12 new submarines to bolster Arctic defences as NATO watches Russia, China move

Canada plans to acquire 12 new submarines capable of traveling under sea ice as part of efforts to bolster the defense of the country’s vast Arctic coastline, the Canadian Department of Defense has announced. Advertise last week.

“A larger, modern submarine fleet will help us detect and deter threats on all three coasts and protect Canadians and Canadian interests,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week in a speech at Cambridge University. NATO Summit in Washington.

Climate change has accelerated the melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, slowly opening up new shipping routes that Western powers worry their adversaries could use for economic and military purposes.

The so-called Northern Sea Route could become the most efficient shipping route between Europe and Asia by 2050, Canada’s Department of National Defence said in a recent statement.

The Canadian military has pointed to “an increasing number of Chinese dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms collecting data over northern Canada,” as well as increased Russian activity in the Arctic.

China has developed rapidly. Expanded its underwater fleetThe Russian Defense Ministry said that submarines continue to collect intelligence in Arctic waters.

As CBS News reported, ReportedRussia has intensified its military operations in the Arctic Circle, including tests of advanced weapons. hypersonic missilesSeveral years ago, a Russian LNG tanker completed a Round trip test flight Along the Northern Sea Route, which connects Western Europe and the Atlantic Ocean with East Asia.

“They were very keen on developing this Northern Sea Route,” Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, told CBS News. He said Russia has visions of using the route, which runs through Russia’s exclusive economic zone, as an alternative to southern routes via the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal. The Arctic route could cut transit times by up to 20 days.

Currently, the Northern Sea Route is only navigable for a limited period each year, during ice-free periods. But as the polar ice caps continue to melt, Some estimates suggest that The road could be permanently ice-free in less than two decades.

Canada Updated National Defense PolicyThe new US strategy, released in April, takes these impending changes into account and details the country’s plans to increase its military presence in the Arctic to mitigate potential threats.

The country’s new submarines will be used to “detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries” in the country’s waters, Canada’s defence ministry said in a statement. statement.

“This new fleet will enable Canada to protect its sovereignty in a changing world, and make valuable and high-level contributions to the security of our NATO partners and allies,” Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said in the statement.

Canada’s defence policy indicates that NATO is increasingly focusing on Russia’s ability to project power from its Arctic territories into the North Atlantic.

Analyst Gorenburg believes that Russia’s increased presence in the Arctic will have an indirect impact on US national security.

“This affects the security of the United States to a great extent because of the potential threats to NATO and the alliance structure,” he said, noting that Virtual Russian Attack On coalition allies, Finland or Norway, as potential examples of what might drag Washington into conflict.

This week, Canada, the United States, and Finland Advertise The agreement aims to “provide like-minded nations with the ability to adhere to international rules and norms to support peace and stability in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for generations to come,” US President Donald Trump said in a statement. “The agreement aims to continue building best-in-class Arctic and Antarctic icebreakers and other Arctic and Arctic capabilities in each of our countries,” he added.

The Canadian government said it is already discussing its needs with manufacturers, and over the next decade or so, it also plans to modernize its current fleet of four submarines, which were purchased from the United Kingdom in 1998.

Canada is currently not meeting NATO’s target of 2% of GDP in defence investment. GuidelinesBlair said the country expects to achieve this goal by 2032, however, Canada’s defence policy aims to boost defence investment to 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2025.

CBS News visual data journalist Taylor Johnston contributed to this report.