US, Russia and Canada to Hold Joint Arctic Exercises

Recently United States and Russia and the Republic of Canada have had conflicts over resources found in the Arctic. These resources include oil and mineral deposits, and all three countries claim that they have rights to these resources.

All three countries have borders with the Arctic. The United States has a northern border in Alaska, and both Russia and Canada have long borders with the Arctic.

In the past, this has not been too much of a problem, because Arctic pack ice and frigid temperatures have limited navigation in the area. However, with recent global warming the Arctic ice has been slowly melting and navigation is now easier, opening up the possibility that natural resources could be mined for or drilled for in the region.

Partially as an effort to mitigate these conflicts, the United States government has announced a trilateral exercise between the three countries, called the Arctic Sarex.

The exercises will continue in 2008, with the Russian republic hosting them that year. Search and rescue operations will be practiced, designed to find and rescue victims of air crashes in the area. Search techniques in the large and bleak area are extremely difficult. Providing medical care in low temperatures is a challenge and will be practiced, and key evacuation techniques will be developed in the drills.

Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft will be used. Parachuting techniques will be implemented and practiced during the exercises, and vertical insertions from helicopters onto the ice will be done to make sure that rescue crews are in peak form.

Communications between the three countries will be coordinated so that in the event of a major air disaster the three nations can cooperate in rescue efforts.

Just how to evacuate large groups of people from such an area is one of the problems that the exercises seek to solve. Last year the exercise was hosted by Canada.

It is likely that naval units will participate in the exercises, providing platforms for helicopters and perhaps for aircraft, although it is more likely that air bases close to the Arctic Circle will be used for the fixed wing elements. All three nations conduct research in the area and scientific bases are primarily supplied by air. Periodically, poor weather or mechanical flaws cause an aircraft to crash in this unforgiving environment.

Therefore, even though the three nations have tensions about how to use the area and about who will benefit from the recent discoveries of natural resources, all three are aware that cooperation is necessary to ensure the safety of their citizens in the region.

Joint Exercises, Sarex