1st Edition
Defending NATO’s Northern Flank Power Projection and Military Operations
This book investigates several aspects of military power and security in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.
NATO’s northern flank is a large maritime and littoral theatre, where NATO directly borders Russia’s Northern Fleet Military Administrative Territory, which is the location of some of Russia’s most potent air, sea, and land power capabilities. While military tensions on the northern flank had been relatively low for years, the Ukraine war and increased great-power rivalry have altered that dynamic, with heightened geopolitical tensions. This has increased the focus on military-strategic competition in this northernmost region of the alliance. This book presents new assessments of several aspects of military power and security in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. With an analysis of the security and political climate in the High North and of developments in Western military strategies, capabilities, doctrines, and operational concepts, the volume seeks to bring together an holistic understanding of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing the North Atlantic states and NATO in this dynamic area of responsibility for the alliance. In doing this, the book provides key insights into the role of branch-specific and joint approaches to power projection and operations in the High North, which also include selected country case studies.
This book will be of much interest to students of NATO, military studies, security studies, and International Relations.
1. Security and defense of NATO’s northern flank: An introduction
Lon Strauss and Njord Wegge
SECTION I: SECURITY, POWER PROJECTION, AND OPERATIONS ON NATO’S NORTHERN FLANK
2. The strategic challenge of expeditionary warfare and the defense of NATO’s northern flank
Lon Strauss and Njord Wegge
3. A defense dilemma and a possible security dilemma: Norway, the United States, and the defense of Northern Norway, 1960–1980
Stian Bones
4. The Russian way of regular warfare and the Arctic
Amund Osflaten
5. National security interests of Russia’s Northern Sea Route: Additional elements of domestic and international importance
Troy J. Bouffard
6. NATO, doctrines, and the Arctic
Palle Ydstebø
7. Norwegian problems of confidence building: Geopolitical exposure and military vulnerabilities in the High North
Tormod Heier
SECTION II: STRATEGIC INTERESTS AND THE ARCTIC
8. US national strategy in the Arctic
David Auerswald
9. Integrated naval deterrence in the Arctic: Deterring Russian aggression through US-Norwegian cooperation
Walter Berbrick and Lars Saunes
10. Operationalizing joint force capabilities and priorities for growing problem sets in the Arctic region
Ryan Burke and Jahara Matisek
11. Special operations forces in the Arctic: From heroes to zeroes?
Marius Kristiansen, Njål Hoem, and Leo Blanken
SECTION III: NATO’S NORTHERN FLANK STATES
12. Norway’s strategic role and interests at NATO’s northern flank: Finding a new balance?
Joachim Bentzen
13. Finnish and Swedish NATO membership: What does it hold for the Arctic?
Hanna Ojanen and Arto Väisänen
14. A kingdom divided against itself: The Kingdom of Denmark and the rise of Arctic security dynamics
Liselotte Odgaard
15. The UK as a near-Arctic state and essential regional security ally
Danita Catherine Burke
Biography
Lon Strauss is an associate professor of Military History at the US Marine Corps Command and Staff College.
Njord Wegge is a professor of Political Science at the Norwegian Defence University College/Norwegian Military Academy.
