Defense News
May 13, 2022

New commando force leads Britain’s military in Arctic operations

The new Future Commando Force program, made up of about 4,000 personnel with the British Royal Marines, is leading the way in Arctic operations for the entire service, according to the head of the effort.

“We are the U.K.’s Arctic experts [in] regard for specialists and electronic warfare elements,” Brig. Mark Totten said at the Modern Day Marine expo on Tuesday….

For the most part, the service previously focused on the Arctic theater for “training and environmental development,” Totten said, but that’s going to shift. He added that the Future Commando Force wants to bolster its resources in the region and is ready to position other readiness forces near the Suez Canal.

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These forces form a littoral strike group that works alongside a carrier strike group, designed to boost the carrier strike group’s capabilities, Totten said. “What we’re really looking at doing in this context is supporting carrier operations much more than marines previously have.”

The U.K. has recently ramped up operations in the Arctic and called on NATO allies and partners to “take a more proactive approach to the High North,” according to a strategy document from the Defence Ministry released in March.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also cautioned the region is encountering new threats – specifically increased militarization in the area from Russia and infrastructure capabilities from China.

“The UK Armed Forces will be doing more with our close Arctic allies and partners, as part of NATO, bilaterally, and through other multilateral groupings such as the Joint Expeditionary Force,” Wallace said in a March statement….

The strategy document coincided with more than 3,000 sailors and marines participating in the exercise Cold Response in Norway to focus on cold-water training with NATO allies and partners in March and April…..

The British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales operated as one of 25 ships in the exercise, functioning as the head of NATO’s maritime high-readiness force.

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U.S. Marines from the II Marine Expeditionary Force also participated in the exercise….

Altogether, Cold Response 2022 included roughly 30,000 troops from 27 countries. Norway hosts the exercise biannually.