THE Royal Navy is too small to adequately protect Britain’s interests in the Arctic, experts warned last night.
Both China and Russia are planning to make full use of melting ice caps to increase their presence in the region and use new shipping routes to North America and even Europe.
“For some time now, Russia has adopted a strong legal strategy to gain control of the Arctic to fulfil economic and military ambitions, including strengthening its ballistic missile submarines, which are mostly based near the Kola Peninsula, next to the Finnish border,’ said regional expert Maria Monge-Navarro Otero.
“It is preparing itself for a hypothetical war with Nato while pursuing an ambition to exploit natural resources and raw materials in the region.
“Britain which has observer status in the Arctic Council, needs to adjust its foreign policy and focus more on the High North,”
But the Royal Navy has just 13 operational frigates and only three attack submarines – HMS Anson, HMS Astute and the older Trafalgar-class HMS Triumph – currently at sea to face growing challenges around British and global waters.
The current defence review is placing more reliance on allies until our heavily-delayed Type 26 frigates are ready in 2028.
Meanwhile, the UK’s only Icebreaker HMS Protector, which is vital to exert soft power in the region, spends more time in port than in the Arctic, naval experts say.
Around 16 percent of the world’s untapped oil and 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas lie buried beneath the Arctic ocean floor. Access to these minerals would considerably boost the economies of both Russia and China.
China’s ability to use the Northern Sea Route to shave thousands of miles for its container ships is also key, with a voyage from Dalian, in China to Rotterdam in the Netherlands taking 15 days less through the NSR than the Suez Canal.
This is important given that around 90 per cent of China’s products are exported using sea routes, and accounts for Beijing’s ambition to establish a ‘Polar Silk Road’.
The eight Arctic states – Canada, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the US and Russia – have long collaborated on scientific research through the Arctic Council, a non-military body.
But Russia has ceased to cooperate since its invasion of Ukraine and Arctic Council meetings have ceased.
“What we need is a permanent presence in the region, ” said maritime expert Commander Tom Sharpe.
“In an ideal world that means a P8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Kinloss and a frigate and a nuclear powered attack submarine permanently assigned, to the region.”But we’re nowhere close to that.
He added: “Even an icebreaker would allow us to carry out important research and exert soft power – this is where the UK could and should excel.
“But HMS Protector is so over-crewed now that it is always alongside. “