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…
The Watch
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…
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) received its sixth and final Arctic Offshore Patrol Vehicle (AOPV) in August, completing a phase of an ambitious retooling of its maritime force. His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Robert Hampton Gray is the latest AOPV, which since the first ship entered service in 2021, has participated in international missions like Operation Caribbe to stem drug shipments through the Caribbean Sea. AOPVs, equipped for long voyages in harsh Arctic conditions, also have circumnavigated North America and deployed to Antarctica, according to a Canadian Department of National Defence news release. The AOPVs are “ice-capable patrol ships designed…
The Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing (AW), based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, provided aerial firefighting support against fires in the state in August 2025. The 302nd AW’s C-130H Hercules aircraft are equipped with the U.S. Forest Service-owned Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS), which are refilled with fire retardant at the Colorado Springs Airtanker Base, just outside the Colorado Springs Airport, south of the base. At the request of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, the 302nd AW launched a MAFFS-equipped C-130 on August 9, with five drops totaling 55,157 liters of retardant…
The Svalbard archipelago, containing nine principal islands, lies well north of the Arctic Circle and nearly 1,000 kilometers north of Tromsø, Norway’s largest northern city. The island’s population of about 3,000 mainly works in trapping and coal mining. In the summer, tourists come by boat. For much of its history, until a 1920 treaty guaranteed mining rights to several countries, Svalbard was an isolated place in an extremely harsh climate, far from geopolitical concerns. That is changing. In the past several years, Russia — which has treaty rights to Svalbard — has acted in an increasingly provocative manner. In 2022, Russian…
The U.S. Army is outfitting troops with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team with the latest technology to surveil the Mexico-U.S. border and alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents of illegal border crossings and drug smugglers. From high-tech headwear and a force reorganization designed to help Soldiers move through rough, unfamiliar terrain to tiny drones that can spot illegal activity, the troops are learning to operate the new equipment. The Stryker Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Mountain Warriors, is based in Fort Carson, Colorado. About 2,400 brigade troops arrived at the southern border in March to secure…