The Watch

Denmark said it will increase defense spending by $4.2 billion to improve security in Greenland and the Arctic and North Atlantic regions. It also will spend $4.5 billion to buy 16 additional F-35 fighter jets from the United States, bringing its F-35 fleet to 43. “With this … agreement, we significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Danish Armed Forces in the region,” Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement October 10, 2025. The defense boost comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Greenland was critical for U.S. “national security and international security.” The NATO ally revealed that —…

As Hurricane Melissa’s Category 5 winds and rain devastated a large swath of the Caribbean, the United States and its regional partners deployed Soldiers and Guardsmen to evacuate residents in low-lying areas, aid in search and rescue efforts, and provide aerial surveillance of the October 2025 storm. The hurricane left at least 33 dead, thousands homeless and battered infrastructure before moving past Bermuda, still at hurricane strength three days after initially making landfall in Jamaica, more than 2,000 kilometers to the southwest. In The Bahamas, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) troops deployed to assist in the government’s evacuation order…

Two Russian warplanes briefly entered Lithuanian airspace in October 2025, the latest in a string of incursions over NATO nations’ territory along the alliance’s eastern flank. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called the incursion “a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania.” In an October 23 post on the social media platform X, Nausėda wrote: “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.” The Russian planes appeared over Lithuanian skies on the same day that Nausėda attended a European Council summit in Brussels where leaders “endorsed a plan to ensure that Europe can defend…

Russian spy ships observed a large live-fire naval exercise by Germany in October 2025 off the coast of northern Norway’s Andøya island. The German Navy’s Maritime Firing Exercise led by the frigate Sachsen involved 10 German naval assets, including frigates, corvettes, tenders, supply ships, on-board helicopters and a submarine, according to a German Navy news release. As the October 13-24 exercise unfolded, it was closely observed by two ships linked to Russian intelligence activities, reported the Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper. The exercise is an annual event, but the 54 missiles launched and other torpedo and artillery tests represented the…

The United States Coast Guard is conducting an unprecedented surge of force along 418 kilometers of the Rio Grande River to complement the activities of federal agencies to secure the Mexico-U.S. border. Operation River Wall, which includes quick response boats and tactical teams, began in October 2025 to further suppress illegal activity along the frontier. The exact number of vehicles and personnel has not been released, according to Stars and Stripes, a military affairs newspaper. The Coast Guard patrols the river as it winds through Cameron and Hidalgo counties in southeast Texas, eventually entering the Gulf of America. In the…

Canada is poised to buy more than two dozen High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) for $1.75 billion after the United States government approved the sale to its ally and northern neighbor in October 2025. The cutting-edge artillery system has proved effective in the Russia-Ukraine war and boosts Canada’s ability to project force in a wide variety of battlefield scenarios from the Arctic to Europe. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress on October 1 that the potential sale had gained its approval. Canada would buy 26 M142 HIMARS with “a deep magazine of precision munitions,” including nearly…

In a complex exercise in the Arctic fjords of Northern Norway, commandos from the United Kingdom’s Royal Marines, along with their Norwegian counterparts, tested their amphibious landing skills, their ability to fight and protect themselves once they’ve reached shore, and their proficiency at moving combat supplies with traditional logistics and uncrewed technology. The allied forces practiced rapid, scalable amphibious options to strengthen deterrence on NATO’s northern flank. Exercise Arctic Tide — part of the Joint Expeditionary Force’s (JEF) overarching Tarassis series of drills — deployed 350 U.K. Marines, Sailors and Soldiers to the High North with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary…

As United States Army troops arrived at the Mexico-U.S. border in October 2025 to replace units stationed there since early in the year, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command Commander Gregory M. Guillot praised the efforts of the Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) for aligning its mission cohesively with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. In March 2025, the 10th Mountain Division, commanded by Maj. Gen Scott Naumann, arrived from its home base in Fort Drum, New York, to take command of the task force’s operations. The division “assumed the role of synchronizer of several…

Seven United States warplanes and their crews deployed quickly from their Air National Guard bases around the U.S. to Greenland where they trained in tandem with the Royal Danish Air Force in an October 2025 demonstration of force readiness and NATO interoperability, according to a U.S. First Air Force news release. The rapid deployment, coordinated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), was challenging but went off without a hitch, said the Air Force commander in charge of planning the mission. “The rapid timeline presented a unique challenge,” said Maj. Daniel Schoettle, CONR-1AF (AFNORTH & AFSPACE) Operations Contingency Plans…

NATO and the European Commission have responded forcefully to repeated Russian incursions into member nations’ airspace with warplanes and drones as part of a series of projects to fortify the Western allies’ security against an increasingly aggressive Moscow. The steps occur as Russia continues to provoke, including several October incursions into Norwegian airspace. Since September 2025, Denmark, Estonia, Poland and Norway have been the focus of highly publicized drone or warplane incursions, actions that temporarily shut down airports and disrupted commerce, prompting military responses. Most recently, a Russian spy plane was intercepted by two Norwegian F-35s in Norwegian airspace on…