Norway has put new hurdles on uninsured and underinsured oil tankers passing through its waters, the government announced in August. Under the new rules, which are mostly aimed at a “shadow fleet” of ships transporting Russian crude oil, the Norwegian Coastal Administration will approach foreign-registered oil tankers entering Norway’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and request proof that they are properly insured. There are no mandatory penalties if crews aboard the ships choose not to comply or are found to have inadequate coverage, the High North News website reported. The new regulation will be tested for six months, and then it will be…
The Watch
Denmark has been ramping up defense spending quickly as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds toward its fifth year. As Moscow repeatedly violated NATO airspace in September 2025, concerning moves reminiscent of Russia’s initial 2014 invasion of Ukrainian territory, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced Copenhagen would buy long-range precision weapons capable of hitting targets in enemy territory. Frederiksen said the decision to buy such weapon systems was prompted by Russian aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere. “There is no doubt that Russia will be a threat to Europe and Denmark for years to come,” Frederiksen told reporters on September 17, according…
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) hosted the second annual demonstration of counter small, unmanned surveillance systems (c-sUAS), known as Falcon Peak, and demonstrated the substantial progress made by defense contractors in meeting the challenge of defending the U.S. from hostile UAS activity. Counterdrone technology shot down U.S. Special Forces-provided target drones that mimicked the latest in battlefield innovation. The September 2025 event was at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. In one media demonstration, crews launched a “hostile” drone from Santa Rosa Island before an interceptor drone captured it with a net fired from a shotgun. Twenty anti-drone systems were tested…
The U.S. Army is sending Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division and other units to the U.S.-Mexico border this fall to provide enhanced sustainment, engineering, communications and operational capabilities in support of Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB). They will replace other units in the region, where about 7,600 Soldiers are deployed to control the border and guard the territorial integrity of the United States, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) said. An Army news release, issued September 2, said the new deployments will include: The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Headquarters to replace the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters The 10th Combat Aviation…
In five incidents over five weeks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked Russian aircraft operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in July and August 2025. The Russian aircraft included two Tupolev Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers, two Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker fighter jets and four Ilyushin Il-20 Coot spy planes, Stars and Stripes newspaper reported. In the first incident, on July 22, NORAD scrambled six fighter jets — two F-35 Lightning IIs and four F-16 Fighting Falcons — to intercept, identify and monitor the two Tu-95 bombers and a pair of Su-35 fighter jets near the Bering…
A United States aircraft carrier group trained with NATO forces for several weeks in August and September 2025, highlighting a continued effort to integrate tactics, lines of communication and improve joint capabilities in the Arctic. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, accompanied by destroyers and a guided-missile destroyer, trained with Norwegian naval and air forces in Norwegian waters. The multiweek exercise marked the third consecutive year that a U.S. aircraft carrier group has deployed to the region. “What we’re doing is a building block on the last years of our U.S. Carrier Strike Groups’ work off…
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have successfully completed Arctic Edge 2025 (AE25), a joint and combined multidomain field training exercise designed to strengthen their ability to safeguard North America in the face of China and Russia’s increased ambitions in the Arctic. The exercise, conducted across Alaska from August 1-31, 2025, coincided for the first time with exercise Northern Edge 2025, led by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), and demonstrated readiness, improved interoperability and advanced capabilities in the Arctic. AE25 included participants from USNORTHCOM, Air Forces Northern, Army North, Naval Forces Northern, Marine Forces Northern,…
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 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.…