Our Arctic Neighbors: Norwegian military can assist oil industry

The Norwegian military has a new role in the Arctic in the post-Cold War era, which includes providing security for oil and gas development and conducting rescue operations for civilians, one of the country’s rear admirals said at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromso Jan. 19. However, the military cannot be expected to provide these functions alone without cooperation from domestic and international agencies and organizations, Trond Grytting added.

“How can we establish a system that is able to save lives and prevent pollution?” Grytting asked at the conference. “I believe that one of the answers to that is to increase the use of the military capabilities. Not as platforms for weapons, but in their function as service providers for the rest of the society.”

The peacetime challenges that currently exist are completely different from those the military faced in the Cold War, Grytting said. The importance of military assistance to the civilian sector increases the farther north you go, he noted, because of the lack of infrastructure, the greater distances to be covered and the low density of private or public capacity to act.

“The conditions for handling a drifting oil tanker (are) dramatically different in the Barents Sea compared to the North Sea,” Grytting said.

The military can assist civilians by establishing situational awareness through information coming from radar, ships, aircraft and satellites, Grytting said. The military can also provide aircraft, vessels and manpower for a rescue. A 24-7 response center called Operation North coordinates this military assistance in northern Norway.

And climate change is enabling more economic activity to take place in the Arctic.

“If, or perhaps I should say when cargo routes are established across the North Pole, it will be a great challenge for all Arctic nations to have updated knowledge of the maritime picture,” Grytting added.

—Sarah Hurst