“Arctic Sentry underscores the Alliance’s commitment to safeguard its members and maintain stability in one of the world’s most strategically significant and environmentally challenging areas,” said U.S. Air Force General Alexus G. Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, adding, “It will leverage NATO’s strength to protect our territory and ensure the Arctic and High North remains secure.”
The launch follows a meeting last month in Davos, Switzerland, between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where the two leaders agreed that NATO should collectively assume greater responsibility for the defence of the region in view of Russia’s military activity and China’s growing interest there.
NATO said preparations for Arctic Sentry provided planners with full visibility of Allied nations’ activities in the Arctic and High North, and that ACO will now use the initiative to bring these efforts together under a single overarching operational approach, covering activities such as Denmark’s Arctic Endurance series of multi-domain exercises and Norway’s upcoming Cold Response exercise, which is already seeing the arrival of troops from across the Alliance.
Arctic Sentry will be led by Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFC Norfolk), NATO’s newest Joint Force Command, whose area of responsibility has included the entire region since December.
“In terms of NATO’s Joint Force Commands, Norfolk is the bridge between North America and Europe, defending the strategic approaches between the two continents and much more,” Grynkewich said after receiving a briefing on Arctic Sentry planning at the command, as ACO and JFC Norfolk confirmed they will work with Allied Command Transformation and coordinate activities with the U.S. and Canada’s North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), as well as U.S. Northern Command and U.S. European Command.
