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…
The Watch
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.…
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…