- The UK will increase its troop presence in the Norwegian Arctic to deter the threat from Russia
- This surge will see Britain’s military presence increase from 1,000 to 2,000 personnel over the next three years
- Amid the Russian military build-up and the Greenland crisis, the UK government is looking to prioritise the High North theatre
The UK Ministry of Defence announced a surge of British military personnel to Norway over the next three years, doubling the current level of troops from 1,000 to 2,000 troops.
The decision comes as the High North theatre becomes a flashpoint for competing strategic interests, not only among Russia and China, but also the United States, whose unilateralism has threatened to undermine Nato in the Greenland crisis.
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During a visit to meet Royal Marine Commandos at Camp Viking in the Arctic Circle in northern Norway, where the Defence Secretary John Healey formally announced the surge, he also made a subtle observation that suggests the Arctic is moving from a space of competing economic and strategic interests to a theatre that is now increasingly contested militarily.
Arctic military build up
“We see Putin rapidly re-establishing military presence in the region, including reopening old Cold War bases,” Healey commented on 11 February.
While the the revamped bases were not listed directly, Russia has been reconstituting its Arctic military presence for some time. In 2020, it was reported that S-400 air defence units were deployed to Rogachevo air base in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, highlighting how Moscow has perceived risks and challenges in the region both before and after its war in Ukraine.
And so too will the UK, now “doubling the number of troops in Norway and scaling up joint exercises with Nato allies”, Healey continued. This refers to two forthcoming military exercises: Cold Response in March and Lion Protector in September.
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By GlobalDataThe former will see 1,500 Royal Marines participate in an exercise alongside 13 other allied nations across Norway, Finland and Sweden. The effort will enhance allied ability to defend strategically important locations across fjords and mountains.
The latter, meanwhile, will see hundreds of personnel from among the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) nations deploy across Iceland, the Danish Straits and Norway across air, land, and sea, training to protect critical national infrastructure from attacks and sabotage while enhancing their joint command and control capabilities.
UK projection in the High North
Currently, there are Royal Marines and Army Commandos based at Camp Viking, in Øverbygd, northern Norway, a forward operating base leased from the Norwegian government and opened in 2023.
It is where the UK military conducted seasonal mountain and cold weather warfare training, but units will will now operate from the base all year round.
While the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have been dragging their heels with almost every defence programme on the table, it has however managed to deliver new small arms to the Royal Marines in recent years. Last year, they tested L403A1 ‘KS-1’ Alternative Individual Weapon rifles in Norway’s cold climes.
Likewise, the Royal Navy, the parent service of the Royal Marines, said new equipment – such as the L403 rifle and snowmobiles – was being rolled out amid “intensive, extreme, cold weather training” in Norway, too.
This level of investment has not extended to the Royal Navy more widely as the force has been cut to the bone, with available frigates now able to be counted on one hand.
The insufficient force has led the government to lean on Norway as a “strategic partner”, taking up its own slots for the construction of Type 26 frigates after a significant deal made last year. Likewise, a senior MoD official recently commented on plans to cultivate a “hybrid navy” split between conventional surface ships and autonomous maritime vehicles, when in reality, there is no capacity or wherewithal to reverse the decline on the government’s part.
While a fair vision in theory, it also slaps varnish on the decades-long failure to revive the surface fleet with new hulls.
