The U.S. Northern Command, which contains the North American Arctic, is seeking $130 million in funding for fiscal year 2021 for polar communications experiments in cooperation with SpaceX’s Starlink and OneWeb satellites, a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb. The plan involves using prototype terminals capable of uplinking to these new low earth orbit constellations consisting of thousands of mass-produced small satellites.

The U.S. military, including the U.S. Coast Guard, have long-expressed concern about unreliable communications in the polar regions. The Arctic lacks many of the traditional land-based communication and satellite-based connections.

Experts confirm that the U.S. should be concerned about communication in the Arctic. “While communicating today might be easier than it was for Commodore Perry 111 years ago, it’s not that much better. This question about the lack of communication capabilities in the Arctic shows how the American military has fundamentally underinvested in Arctic operations for decades - maybe even a century,” explains Andrew Holland, Chief Operating Officer of the American Security Project, a Washington DC-based think tank.

Lack of funding and communication

The lack of communication capabilities also extends to the United States Coast Guard (USCG). During last week’s annual ‘State of the Coast Guard” address its Commandant, Admiral Karl Schultz highlighted how Coast Guard personnel frequently have to dig through several feet of snow to repair degraded ground-based communications equipment. The USCG confirmed that it is exploring new satellite communications capabilities in cooperation with the Department of Defence. Schultz stressed that the issue requires a “whole-of-government” approach and that the communication blackout in the Arctic needs to be solved immediately.

“The fact that the U.S. has to outsource satellite communications to private companies basically says it all. The U.S. military does not have an internal capability to do this themselves but recognizes the need to have communications capability,” confirms Rob Hubert associate professor at the University of Calgary and a senior research fellow with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

The Coast Guard’s communications shortcomings are part of larger operational challenges the service faces, including in the Arctic. Lack of funding and growing demands for defence missions, including in the Arctic, have left “the Coast Guard on an unsustainable path to support our growing operational requirements,” Schultz said.

