Led by a Royal Norwegian Navy frigate, a flotilla of NATO warships sailed into the Barents Sea in late August 2025 in a show of force designed to deter Russian threats to vital sea-lanes that connect Europe to the increasingly contested Arctic region. The four-vessel naval group, comprised of two Norwegian and two United States naval ships, operated off the northern tip of Norway in that country’s territorial waters. The ships sailed close to North Cape, the northernmost point of continental Europe, reported the Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper. “We want to show our presence with allied forces in the…
The Watch
The Danish military led a five-nation contingent of NATO allies in September 2025 on a comprehensive exercise to defend Greenland, a largely autonomous overseas territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland has become a Western security flashpoint in recent years as melting ice has led to increased interest in the Arctic from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Russia. The Arctic Light exercise, which ran from September 9 to 19, was a “short-notice planned-activity exercise,” involving more than 550 troops from Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The exercise is the latest version of many similar operations in recent years,…
U.S. Navy helicopter and CMV-22B Osprey crews drilled on extended search and rescue (SAR) capabilities in Alaska’s waters during exercise Northern Edge 2025 (NE25) in August, testing their skills in locating and saving downed crew members in the harsh Arctic environment. The “Chargers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14, part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG), established and operated from an expeditionary advanced base (EAB) in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. The forward operating base provided extended SAR coverage in support of maritime strike scenarios over the Gulf of Alaska from August 17 to 22.…
In a sweeping overhaul of U.S. military strategy on anti-drone warfare, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to establish a joint interagency task force to ramp up the nation’s ability to counter hostile unmanned aerial systems (UAS). “America will be the best at it,” Hegseth declared. “Our job here at the Pentagon — when you think about it — is to prepare for the threats of the future and build a force to match them, and defeat them, and outpace them,” Hegseth said in a video message released August 28, 2025. “And there’s no doubt…
A Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) ship and a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutter sailed together through the Bering Sea in August 2025 in a demonstration of the close working partnership between North American allies in defense of the Arctic. “The sail demonstrated the combined resolve of both nations to deter, and if necessary, defeat adversaries who threaten the Homelands in the Arctic,” stated a news release by the Alaskan Command, a joint subordinate command of U.S. Northern Command, which coordinated the exercise with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Starting on August 25, the RCN ship Regina and USCG cutter Waesche…
Mexico and the United States reaffirmed their security collaboration on border issues in early September 2025 during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Mexico City. After meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Rubio characterized the current state of Mexico-U.S. relations as “the closest cooperation we’ve ever had, maybe between any country, but definitely between the U.S. and Mexico,” according to The Associated Press. The September 3 meeting established a new high-level binational group to focus on discouraging illegal migration, drug and gun smuggling, and other contraband activities that threaten the security of both countries. “The two governments have…
The U.S. Coast Guard officially commissioned the cutter Storis, the first polar icebreaker acquired by the United States in over 25 years, in Juneau, Alaska. The commissioning of the Storis and the addition of Juneau as a Coast Guard homeport mark significant steps in a U.S. push to revitalize the Coast Guard fleet amid growing Chinese and Russian activity in Arctic waters. The Storis, formerly the icebreaking tug supply vessel Aiviq, was purchased in December 2024 and underwent modifications and upgrades to bolster its defense and communications capabilities. At 110 meters long, the Storis is about two-thirds the size of the Coast…
In a breakthrough demonstration of unmanned aerial combat systems, U.S. Marines with the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion (AITB), School of Infantry–East, conducted a live-fire combined arms exercise at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The event demonstrated the lethality of the Mjolnir payload system delivered by unmanned aerial systems (UAS), marking a milestone in merging small drones and lethal payloads on the battlefield. The July 3, 2025, exercise featured the use of weaponized drones — including the Marine Corps-fielded SkyRaider quadcopter and the Neros Archer FPV drone — in coordinated strikes alongside traditional assets such as mortars and the Javelin missile…
Canada’s prime minister and defense minister traveled to Latvia in August 2025 to reaffirm their country’s commitment to leading a NATO combat brigade in the Baltic nation for at least another three years. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the extension of Operation Reassurance, which began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014. Within months, the brigade, part of NATO’s Forward Land Forces, will be at full strength, he said, with 2,200 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members forming the backbone of a 3,000-Soldier unit. “To secure lasting peace in Ukraine and Europe, we must deter and fortify. For over…
It was the biggest single offload of illegal drugs ever for the U.S. Coast Guard — dozens of Guardsmen hefting hundreds of plastic-wrapped bales across the decks of their ship — but it marked the culmination of 19 separate interdictions over five weeks on two oceans. The Coast Guard cutter Hamilton docked at the port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on August 25 and delivered a 38-ton cargo of contraband collected through its own operations and those of a dozen other units from the Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and international partners. The agencies work together through…