Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently visited the Arctic to personally inspect the construction of the infrastructure here for basing the new Russian nuclear submarine missile carriers of the Borey and Yasen projects, and a new residential town for servicemen of the Northern Fleet. A week earlier, Russian paratroopers for the first time in the world massively landed on the drifting ice in the Arctic Ocean, 100 km from the North Pole, in the vicinity of the Russian Arctic station Barneo. This time, the Airborne Forces conducted a training evacuation and rescue operation to search, find and rescue conditionally injured polar explorers and aircraft crew members conditionally crashed during a cross-polar flight.
But a month earlier, Russian paratroopers were massively practicing a combat mission in the Arctic. The paratrooper battalion of the Ivanovskaya 98th Airborne Division of 350 men with four units of military equipment and several tons of cargo “captured” the Arctic airfield “Temp”, located on the New Siberian Islands, on one of the March nights. At the same time, the paratroopers worked in absolutely extreme conditions. For example, the permissible wind speed when airborne is 10 meters per second at the ground and 12 at altitude. The Russian Arctic landing with the help of the new guided parachute systems of the special purpose "Arbalet-2" landed in the airfield area at a wind speed that sometimes reached more than 15 meters per second. After landing, the paratroopers quickly "captured" the airfield against the countermeasures of a simulated enemy moving in mobile groups on snowmobiles and paragliders, and, less than an hour later, they were already ready to take on the Tempe air force military transport aircraft with the main landing force, heavy equipment and weapons.
“You can be proud of our paratroopers, who solve the assigned tasks in any conditions. Under such bad weather conditions, no one in the world except us jumps with a parachute. Here we, fortunately, retain our leading positions in the world, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov, Commander of the Airborne Forces, told reporters.
The FSB, in turn, will recreate a network of border outposts on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, each of which will control an area up to 300 km long. "As a priority, it is necessary to continue the development of border infrastructure in the Arctic region, as well as in the southern strategic direction," - said Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a recent meeting of the board of the FSB of Russia. The Federal State Unitary Enterprise Central Project Management under the Russian Spetsstroy, announcing the acceptance of applications for the tender for the reconstruction of the Tiksi airfield, indicated that after the reconstruction, this Arctic military base should be capable of receiving strategic missile-carrying bombers Tu-160 and Tu-95MS, as well as heavy tanker aircraft Il-78.
All these events indicate that Russia is intensively strengthening its defense capability at a line that until recently was of interest only to scientists and fishermen. It is not for nothing that 2014 is unofficially called the Year of the Arctic in the Russian military department.
16 minutes to Moscow
US strategic aviation pilots mastered flight routes to the territory of our country through the North Pole back in the 50s of the last century. The same route was ready to fly to Soviet industrial centers and large settlements and US land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. Therefore, in the Soviet part of the Arctic in the 60s-70s of the last century, a powerful anti-aircraft "umbrella" was deployed from units of radio engineering troops, anti-aircraft missile forces, fighter aircraft, and naval forces.
On the islands - Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Novosibirsk Islands, Wrangel Island, early warning missiles and aircraft were based. On the coast of the Arctic Ocean (Naryan-Mar, Amderma, Nadym, Alykel, Tiksi, Cape Schmidt, Coal Mines) there were airfields for fighters and strategic bombers. Under the long-term polar ice, strategic nuclear submarines were on alert, the surface fleet reliably guarded the coast from the sea. Long-range radar reconnaissance and target designation planes hung high in the sky. Border guards caught poachers, radio beacons of foreign origin, spying on what was happening in the Russian North, and helped maintain public order in those territories where their units were located.
Even civilian polar explorers studying the Arctic Ocean from stations located on drifting ice floes also, in fact, performed a combat mission - their data was primarily used by military climatologists, hydrographers and specialists in the construction of ice airfields. However, in the 90s of the last century, this defense system of the northern borders was completely destroyed, the military left the polar bases, leaving military equipment there, often unattended, and the Northern Fleet huddled around Murmansk. And for more than a decade and a half, almost 20 thousand kilometers of the northern coast of Russia were, in fact, open to any penetration from outside.
“Until very recently, there was practically no combat unit from Murmansk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The radar field, fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft missile cover ceased to exist. Our Arctic lands were left without even a hint of protection and defense "- the editor-in-chief of the newspaper" Military Industrial Courier "Mikhail Khodarenok assesses this situation. At the same time, the military-technical thought of our potential enemy continued to improve. For example, the flight time to Moscow of a ballistic missile launched from a submarine from the Barents Sea is now only 16-17 minutes. The Arctic is also the most convenient springboard for a massive non-nuclear strike - with the help of a large number of Tomahawk cruise missiles, some versions of which allow shelling enemy territory from ships to a depth of more than 1,500 km. And it is no longer possible to ignore this fact further.
Fight for hydrocarbons
Another reason for the need to dramatically increase the Russian military presence in the Arctic is the hydrocarbon reserves in this macro-region. According to updated data from the Geological Survey, which was announced in early March by the chief of staff of the US Navy, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, undiscovered traditional oil and gas reserves in the Arctic are approximately 90 billion barrels of oil, 1.669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 44 billion barrels of gas condensates. These reserves, according to American geologists, account for about 30% of the total undiscovered natural gas reserves in the world, 13% of the total undiscovered oil reserves and 20% of the world's gas condensate reserves. In general, in the Arctic, according to the US Geological Survey, there may be about 22% of the world's undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves.
Of course, no one claims that oil and gas in the Arctic will be produced easily and cheaply. However, the fact that they can be efficiently extracted (that is, not only extracted from the subsoil, but also profit from this) is shown by the example of both Russia and Norway. In 2009, Statoil announced that it had brought gas production to design capacity from the northernmost industrially developed offshore field in the world - Snevit in the Barents Sea. And in the fall of 2012, Russian Gazprom launched the Bovanenkovskoye field on the Yamal Peninsula, which has become the northernmost industrially developed field onshore. Interestingly, they tried to launch Bovanenkovo three times back in Soviet times. But only current technologies have made it possible to start producing gas in the Arctic region economically. Another Russian gas producer, NOVATEK, last year began building on the northeastern end of the Yamal Peninsula the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Arctic - 16.5 million tons of LNG per year (this is three times more than LNG a plant in the Norwegian city of Hammerfest, which liquefies Snevita gas). And all these reserves and objects, strategic for our country, also need to be protected.
Control of shipping
The third circumstance, which sharpens the interest of the world community in the Arctic as a whole and in its Russian sector, in particular, is associated with the transport features of this macroregion. The lion's share of cargo between Europe and the countries of Southeast Asia is now transported by ocean-going ships along the "southern" route - through the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal. However, since the 18th century, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has been known between Europe and Asia - along the Russian coast of the Arctic Ocean. It is shorter than the southern one by one third and due to this it gives considerable benefit to the carriers.
Another question is that while the NSR was covered with perennial ice, the road across the Arctic Ocean was tormented, mainly by Russian sailors. For this, an icebreaker fleet was created in the USSR, which is still the most powerful in the world. But the climatic changes that have been taking place on our planet in recent years are freeing the ocean from ice and opening the way for cargo ships and warships across the Arctic Ocean, even without icebreaker assistance. The US Navy hydrographs, for example, have calculated that by 2020 the navigation period in ice-free water in the Bering Strait will be up to 160 days a year. At the same time, for another 35-45 days, ships in this area will be able to move without the support of icebreakers during the transition season. The period of ice-free navigation along the Northern Sea Route, according to their calculations, will be up to 30 days a year with a transition season of up to 45 days. By 2025, according to the calculations of American military hydrographs, the time of ice-free navigation in the Bering Strait will increase to 175 days a year (plus a transition season of 50-60 days), along the Northern Sea Route - up to 45 days a year (plus 50-60 days). In a word, a new, very profitable transport route is now appearing on the world map. And now several countries at once claim to establish control over it. “As the eternal ice melts and open waters become available over time, we intend to expand our capabilities in the Arctic,” said Chief Oceanographer United States Navy Rear Admiral Jonathan White.
China is also becoming more active, which regards the Northern Sea Route as the most important strategic artery with the aggravation of relations between the Celestial Empire and the United States. Most of the cargo, including hydrocarbons, now arrives in China by the “southern” sea route through the Malacca Strait (the strait between the Malaya Peninsula and the island of Sumatra is the main route connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans). Up to 50 thousand ships pass here annually, serving, according to various estimates, from one-fifth to one-fourth of the world's maritime trade. And this strait can easily be closed in the event of the slightest international conflicts. “The vulnerability of supply lines is a serious weakness that China can experience in the event of a conflict involving the United States. The Malacca Dilemma will be his Achilles' heel. Strategically, the importance of limiting maritime trade on the PRC's ability to wage a protracted conflict will turn out to be high and this circumstance should not be underestimated. As China's economic growth continues, the United States will seek and, I think, is already looking for ways to protect its hegemony from China's attempts to increase its influence in the region,”said Australian analyst Rex Patrick. And this means that under the blockade by the naval forces of the states of the Malacca Strait, unfriendly to China, through which 80% of the oil it needs passes to this country, the Celestial Empire will try to transport as much cargo as possible along the Northern Sea Route. And Russia, which has assumed full responsibility for the movement along this sea road, will need to make every effort to ensure its safety and the comprehensive security of the regions along which it passes - the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. and Yakutia, etc.
Strengthening strength
Over the past few years, American submarines have increased the number of calls to the Arctic Ocean by one and a half times. New US Navy Arctic Strategy in the Arctic, presented to the public in the form of a report by the U. S. Arctic Roadmap 2014–2030, in fact, involves the creation of a new US fleet - the Arctic. “We need to start looking for effective solutions that will make it possible to create an Arctic Navy in less than 10 years,” underlines Rear Admiral Jonathan White. Canada announced the creation of a new Arctic military base on Cornwallis and the strengthening of the ice navy, while at the same time applying to the UN for the right to possess the North Pole. “The United States is not only developing plans to create permanent bases in the Arctic, but also regularly conducts various exercises here, where they practice the“protection”of drilling rigs from suspicious submarines with the help of air aviation, and jointly with the Canadian Coast Guard are organized in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. patrol raids”- remarks the Belarusian analyst Yuri Pavlovets. The number of military exercises in the Arctic and with the participation of the Scandinavian countries has increased dramatically. Even China, thousands of miles from the Arctic, is acquiring a dual-use ice fleet.
Russia is also moving forward. Already last year, the Air Force resumed constant patrolling of the airspace over the Arctic, on the Kola Peninsula, special-purpose units began to practice tactics of conducting hostilities in the Arctic, and in the fall the Northern Fleet conducted exercises unprecedented even for Soviet times in the Arctic Ocean. Ten ships, led by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, accompanied by the nuclear-powered icebreakers Yamal, Vaigach, 50 Let Pobedy and Taimyr, sailed through the ice-covered Barents Sea, Kara Sea and Laptev Sea, delivering to Kotelny Island (part of the Novosibirsk Islands group) more than 40 pieces of equipment, large-sized social units, fuel and lubricants necessary for organizing an airfield and a military research base there. The total cruise range was more than 4 thousand nautical miles.
The beginning of this year was marked by the adoption of a decision to create in Russia a new military structure "Northern Fleet - United Strategic Command (SF-USC)", which, in fact, has the status of a military district. In addition to the current basing centers, the SF-USC groupings will be deployed in the areas where polar airfields are recreated. Temp is already working on the New Siberian Islands. The next step is to fully recreate the Tiksi, Naryan-Mar, Alykel, Amderma, Nagurskaya, Anadyr and Rogachevo military airfields. At "Rogachevo" ("Amderma-2"), which is located on the Gusinaya Zemlya peninsula, for example, the modernization of the runway has already been completed and the airfield, in principle, can already serve as a base for the MiG-31 interceptor fighters.
"SF-USC" will become an interdepartmental and interspecific structure. It will include not only units and subdivisions of the navy, air defense, aviation, special purpose, but also, obviously, border guards performing the functions of the coast guard (the border service, unlike Soviet times, is now subordinate to the FSB).
The Arctic troops will be equipped with the most modern weapons specially adapted for northern conditions. This year, new nuclear submarine missile carriers of the Borey and Yasen families will begin to take over on combat duty in the Arctic Ocean, transport aircraft. Since the end of last year, according to the commander of the East Kazakhstan region, Alexander Golovko, the aerospace defense forces have begun to deploy a radar "umbrella" over the Arctic. The development and testing of new ground vehicles that can work reliably in the Arctic are underway. “Until 2050, it is planned to create a highly mobile amphibious combat vehicle to support the operations of the marines in any regions and climatic conditions, including in the Arctic zone. There is a clear understanding and a unified view of the need to create robotic combat platforms for the marines, armed on new physical principles and using various sources for engine operation,”the words of Chief of the Coastal Forces of the Navy, Major General Alexander Kolpachenko, told ITAR-TASS. "The Russian industry, in general, is ready to supply the Russian Armed Forces with everything they need to work in the aggressive northern latitudes" - sums up the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Dmitry Rogozin.
And this is a clear and correct policy. The polar regions of Russia now provide 15% of the country's gross domestic product and about a quarter of Russian exports. In the foreseeable future, the contribution of the Far North to the national economy will be even greater, since the formation of a new wave of industrialization of the North has now begun. It includes not only an increase in oil and gas production, but also the creation in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the largest transport and logistics hub in the central part of the Russian Arctic. And all these projects, of course, need a reliable military "cover".
