JRL NEWSWATCH: “America’s Military Trails Russia and China in Race for the Melting Arctic” – WSJ

- links to ad -

“U.S. is competing with a partnership between the two countries but has fewer icebreakers and ports, and less experience”

“… [I]n the Bering Sea last fall, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball spotted seven Chinese and Russian vessels steaming … in a double line near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. … [T]he main Chinese ship [was] the Nanchang, one of a new class of cruiser-destroyers that can launch more than 100 guided missiles. The Russian and Chinese ships, … on a joint exercise, sailed north and east into U.S. waters, sending an unmistakable message about the region’s strategic value to Moscow and Beijing …. [T]he U.S. is … adding … polar icebreakers … [with] just one [U.S.] icebreaker in the region for only part of the year, compared with three dozen owned by Russia. … China … has the world’s largest navy …. While the U.S. has a qualitative edge with more-advanced warships, including a larger aircraft-carrier fleet, China is building them more quickly ….”

Click here for: “America’s Military Trails Russia and China in Race for the Melting Arctic; U.S. is competing with a partnership between the two countries but has fewer icebreakers and ports, and less experience” – Wall Street Journal/ William Mauldin, Alan Cullison