New technologies like autonomy and artificial intelligence will make operations in the Arctic more achievable in the future, defense officials said Monday, as the Pentagon unveiled a new Arctic strategy aimed at countering the influence of Sino-Russian collaboration in the region and overcoming the effects of climate change in accelerating Arctic activity.  

The Defense Department released its first Arctic strategy back in 2013. But the newly released Arctic strategy is the first to emphasize the growing collaboration between Russia and China in the region.

“Over the course of the PRC’s 13 Arctic research expeditions to date, the [3 icebreaking vessels] have tested unmanned underwater vehicles and polar-capable fixed-wing aircraft, among other activities. People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels have also demonstrated the capability and intent to operate in and around the Arctic region through exercises alongside the Russian Navy over the past several years,” the strategy reads.

But something else has changed in the way the Defense Department views the Arctic: new emerging technologies like robotic automation and artificial intelligence are making it easier for the Pentagon to continuously monitor activity in places where sending human operators is difficult. The Arctic is emerging as a laboratory for new unmanned concepts. 

“You have to ensure that even those uncrewed systems are survivable to a long enough, at least, to endure, or are so inexpensive that their attritable nature is still worth it for the mission you’re putting them on,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said Monday at the Pentagon. “So that means a lot of research and development and testing, and that’s where we’re focused in this area, looking at the possibilities of where uncrewed systems can bring value.” 

But, she said, potential use cases for AI and autonomy in the Arctic are many. “Domain awareness missions are well suited for uncrewed systems approaches in all domains. So sensing missions, [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance], etc. This is a clear area where we can apply some of what we’re doing in the department.”

The Defense Department is already using artificial intelligence applied to satellite and weather data to operate better in the Arctic, Iris Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience, told reporters. 

“One of a couple of examples where we’ve done that to effect recently is looking at Coast Guard imagery, some 12,000 images, to detect maritime targets with our Coast Guard partners, we’ve also worked at looking at acoustic energies to employ on our submarines and on our [Piper] aircraft. So we’re committed to trying to leverage the best technology available, and are also, of course, trying to do so in a manner that’s both responsible and lawful.”

Still, there is important research yet to be done on building out a better physical presence in the Arctic using robotic and unmanned systems.

“It’s a really tricky place to operate on and ground, with ground operations and with manned platforms, so where we can lean into remote platforms, it can make a lot of sense. However, it’s really tricky to operate remote platforms due to weather and due to connectivity issues. And so that’s where we’re trying to lean, is looking at how we can test and do some [research and development] around ensuring these platforms can operate.”