U.S. Arctic Commander Says Canadian Forces Are Becoming More Important as Russia and China Push North

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Canada’s Arctic is no longer being treated as a distant, frozen buffer from the world’s major security disputes. From Alaska to the Bering Sea, American and Canadian forces are training together more deeply as Russia maintains a formidable northern military presence and China sends more ships and aircraft into Arctic approaches.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command, has highlighted the increasingly sophisticated integration of Canadian forces into American Arctic operations. Recent exercises have involved Canadian transport aircraft moving U.S. weapons systems, Canadian warships sailing with the U.S. Coast Guard, and Canadian aircraft and submarines feeding targeting information into multinational drills. Together, those operations point toward a new reality: defending the northern approaches to North America is becoming an increasingly shared mission.

Canada Is Moving Deeper Into the U.S. Arctic Defence Picture

One of the clearest examples appeared in western Alaska during Operation TUNDRA MERLIN. On July 31, 2026, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transported a U.S. Army M142 HIMARS rocket system from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Nome, Alaska. The Canadian aircraft also stopped at Fort Wainwright to move American soldiers participating in the operation. U.S. Northern Command described the deployment as a demonstration of both countries’ ability to rapidly shift combat equipment and personnel across the Arctic. That is a more substantial role than simply sending observers to another country’s exercise.

The cooperation continued at sea. In September, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro and the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Max Bernays completed another combined sail through the Bering Sea. The exercise included a joint boarding drill and was designed to improve the two forces’ ability to maintain maritime awareness and defend North America’s Arctic approaches. Davis described capable, interoperable forces as essential in a region defined by immense distances and demanding conditions. Canada, in other words, is increasingly becoming part of the operational machinery supporting the defence of Alaska itself.

Tundra Merlin Is Testing More Than Cold-Weather Endurance

Arctic exercises were once easily portrayed as demonstrations of survival: troops proving they could function in extreme cold, aircraft operating from northern bases and ships navigating dangerous waters. TUNDRA MERLIN is testing something more complicated. American commanders are experimenting with whether forces scattered across thousands of kilometres can detect a threat, move weapons into position, exchange targeting information and respond before an adversary can exploit the Arctic’s geography.

An exercise near Nome in August combined U.S. F-35s, F-16s, a KC-135 tanker, HIMARS and an AN/TPQ-53 radar. The concept moved offshore the next month. During a September maritime strike scenario, a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora and the submarine HMCS Corner Brook detected and tracked the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Aspen. Canadian crews then passed information through multiple communications pathways to support a simulated strike. HMCS Ottawa also participated alongside the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton and Alaska-based F-35s. For Davis, the striking feature was the degree of integration among organizations that do not normally operate together every day. That interoperability is increasingly becoming the point of the exercises rather than a side benefit.

Russia Remains the Most Capable Military Actor in the Arctic

China may be attracting more attention, but Russia remains the established military heavyweight of the region. Canada’s government continues to describe Russia as the greatest military threat in and to the Arctic, while the U.S. Department of Defense has noted that Russia possesses the most developed Arctic military presence among Arctic nations. The Kola Peninsula hosts Russia’s Northern Fleet and important strategic nuclear forces, and Moscow has spent years upgrading or reopening military infrastructure across its northern territory.

That military presence periodically becomes visible near North America. In February 2026, NORAD tracked two Russian Tu-95 bombers, two Su-35 fighters and an A-50 airborne early-warning aircraft inside the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. In March, two Russian Tu-142 aircraft were detected there. The March response notably included two Canadian CF-18 fighters and a Canadian CC-150 tanker alongside American F-35s, F-22s, tankers and an E-3 surveillance aircraft. None of those Russian flights entered Canadian or American sovereign airspace, and NORAD said such activity occurs regularly and was not considered an immediate threat. Still, every mission provides another real-world test of North America’s ability to detect, identify and respond quickly in the North.

China’s Presence Is Becoming Harder to Dismiss

China does not possess Arctic territory, but its northern presence has become considerably more visible. The most dramatic military example came in July 2024, when NORAD intercepted two Russian Tu-95 bombers flying alongside two Chinese H-6 bombers in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. Canadian and American fighters conducted the intercept. It marked the first publicly acknowledged NORAD interception of Russian and Chinese military aircraft operating together in the Alaskan ADIZ, although all four aircraft remained in international airspace.

China’s maritime activity has become another focus. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that five Chinese research vessels operated in the U.S. Arctic during the summer of 2025, the largest number recorded there at the time. Chinese ships returned in 2026, with the Xue Long and Xue Long 2 monitored while travelling north through the Bering Sea. Scientific research is not automatically military activity, and foreign vessels can legally operate in many of these waters. However, Canadian and U.S. defence assessments emphasize that oceanographic research can have both civilian and military applications. Detailed knowledge of seabed conditions, currents, ice and underwater acoustics can matter to scientists, commercial operators and submarine planners alike.

NORAD Is Becoming a Much More Complicated Defence Network

For generations, the popular image of continental defence centred on radar stations watching the northern sky for Soviet bombers. That mission has not disappeared, but the challenge has expanded dramatically. Modern defence planners must consider aircraft, submarines, surface vessels, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, drones, satellites, cyber systems and activity beneath the ocean. The result is a growing emphasis on “domain awareness” — combining information from multiple types of sensors so commanders can understand what is happening across air, land, sea, space and other environments.

The recent Bering Sea exercises illustrate the shift. A Canadian submarine could locate a maritime target, a Canadian patrol aircraft could help track it, surface ships could share information, American airborne warning aircraft could manage the broader air picture and fighters could provide a simulated response. That network matters because a modern long-range weapon does not necessarily require an attacking aircraft or submarine to cross into Canadian or American territory. Detecting a launch platform earlier and understanding its behaviour farther from the continent can provide valuable additional decision time. In that environment, Canadian geography, sensors, aircraft and naval forces become part of the warning system protecting both countries.

Canada Is Spending Billions to See Northern Threats Earlier

Ottawa has responded to the changing security environment with its largest NORAD modernization program in decades. Canada is investing $38.6 billion over 20 years in continental defence and NORAD capabilities. The program includes new surveillance systems, upgraded command-and-control networks, northern infrastructure, modern air weapons, space-based capabilities and improvements intended to help military leaders detect threats farther from populated areas. Roughly 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members support NORAD missions across North America.

Radar is one of the biggest pieces of the modernization effort. Canada is working with Australia on an Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar system capable of looking far beyond the range of conventional line-of-sight radar. The broader Canadian program is valued at more than $6 billion, with initial capability planned for December 2029. Northern operating infrastructure is also being upgraded, including facilities associated with locations such as Inuvik, Yellowknife and Iqaluit. These projects will not eliminate the enormous logistical challenges of defending the Arctic, but they are intended to give Canada and NORAD more warning time — potentially the most valuable commodity when confronting increasingly fast and long-range weapons.

The Arctic Environment Makes Canadian Experience Strategically Valuable

The Arctic is opening physically at the same time it is becoming more contested strategically. A peer-reviewed study published in Communications Earth & Environment found that the Arctic warmed nearly four times faster than the global average between 1979 and 2021. Reduced sea ice can increase access during portions of the year, encouraging greater shipping, research and military activity. Yet easier access does not mean easy operations. Extreme cold, immense distances, unreliable communications and limited transportation infrastructure continue to complicate nearly everything militaries try to do there.

Canada has been increasing the scale of exercises designed around those realities. Operation NANOOK-NUNALIVUT 2026 involved nearly 1,300 Canadian Armed Forces personnel and roughly 200 vehicles and pieces of equipment. Activities included a long-range patrol of more than 5,000 kilometres from Inuvik to Churchill, along with complex logistical movements and equipment testing in austere conditions. Personnel from the United States, Denmark, France and Belgium participated as well. Canadian Rangers and relationships with Northern and Indigenous communities remain especially important because persistent Arctic operations require more than advanced weapons. Familiarity with the land, weather, transportation routes and local conditions can determine whether sophisticated equipment can actually be sustained where it is needed.

The Emerging Model Is Shared Defence, Not Parallel Defence

The strategic significance of Canada is increasingly explicit in American defence planning. The United States’ 2026 National Defense Strategy describes Canada as having a vital role in defending North America against threats that include air, missile and undersea systems. Canada’s own Arctic policy similarly treats continental defence as a combination of national capabilities, bilateral Canada-U.S. cooperation and the binational NORAD structure. Recent exercises are turning those policy statements into practical routines.

That does not mean Canada and the United States will approach every Arctic issue identically, nor does closer integration erase Canadian sovereignty. Instead, geography makes the two countries unusually dependent on each other. An aircraft approaching Alaska can matter to Canada. A submarine moving through northern maritime approaches can matter to the United States. Sensors, airfields, ships and aircraft positioned on one side of the border can extend the warning available to commanders on the other. As Russia preserves significant northern military capabilities and China demonstrates that it intends to operate farther north, the value of Canadian forces increasingly comes from more than defending Canadian territory alone. They are becoming an integral component of a continental system built around detecting problems early, combining information quickly and making the North a much more difficult place for an adversary to exploit.

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