U.S. and Canadian forces just rehearsed rapid Arctic combat power on Russia’s doorstep, a response commanders say melting ice and Beijing-Moscow muscle now demand.
American troops and Canadian partners moved rocket systems, fighters, ships, and radar across Alaska under Operation Tundra Merlin, a campaign meant to prove the United States can detect, deter, and defeat threats along the northern approaches to the homeland. Fox News Digital reported the drills as Alaskan Command’s commander laid out why the region no longer sits at the quiet edge of global competition.
Lt. Gen. Robert Davis told reporters the Arctic is changing for two clear reasons. Melting sea ice has opened more commercial and military traffic, especially in summer. China and Russia keep advancing their forces and want to show they can use them in the High North.
Those pressures sit only a short hop from U.S. soil. At the closest points across the Bering Strait, the Russian and American mainlands are about 55 miles apart. Russia’s Big Diomede Island and Alaska’s Little Diomede Island sit roughly 2.5 miles from each other.
In one recent demonstration, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 hauled a U.S. Army HIMARS rocket system and an AN/TPQ-53 radar into western Alaska. Crews linked that firepower to U.S. F-35s, F-16s, and a KC-135 tanker against simulated threats.
U.S. Northern Command said the fighters and rocket crews synchronized on a simulated ground target about 135 miles away. F-16s practiced intercepts. The point was speed: move combat power across Alaska’s distances and harsh weather, then fight as one force.
Army specialists from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Mobile Brigade Combat Team (Air Assault), 11th Airborne Division took part near Nome. Photo captions place personnel there on Aug. 4, 2026, during Tundra Merlin activity.
Davis said U.S. forces can rapidly push capabilities into Alaska “both to defend Alaska, but also, if necessary, to put other adversary targets at risk.” He also noted forces can “project from the Arctic to almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in about 10 hours of flight time.”
"I think what’s changed is primarily two things. One is that the melting sea ice has made the Arctic more accessible. And we’re seeing increased activity both commercially and militarily in the Arctic, particularly during the summer months. The other factor is that China and Russia and others are continuing to advance their military capabilities and capacity with an interest in showing that they can use them in the Arctic as well."
That warning tracks with wider Arctic competition, including China’s push for regular Arctic shipping routes through Russian waters.
From Sept. 18, 22, U.S. and Canadian forces ran a joint maritime strike scenario roughly 100 nautical miles north of Dutch Harbor. The package mixed U.S. Coast Guard assets, Royal Canadian Navy surface and subsurface vessels, Canadian maritime patrol aircraft, and Alaska-based U.S. Air Force F-35s and an E-3.
Davis called the integration the most impressive part of the work.
"The most impressive part to me was seeing the high degree of cooperation and integration among units that day in and day out don't necessarily operate together. To see the joint nature on the U.S. side integrated together with the inter-agency of the U.S. Coast Guard and with our allies, with Canada as an example, was just an amazing thing to see."
He stressed equipment must be conditioned and outfitted for long stretches in sub-zero cold. Alaskan Command holds more than 22,000 active-duty personnel and about 4,700 Guard and Reserve members, U.S. Northern Command figures show. Air Force officials have described Alaska as the “crossroads of the Arctic and the Pacific.”
Allied posture in the High North has drawn fresh attention as Washington weighs harder security footing farther east, including a Greenland security arrangement tied to Arctic military and mineral stakes.
The drills did not happen in a vacuum. In July 2024, NORAD detected and intercepted two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers flying together in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. Officials said it was the first time NORAD had intercepted Russian and Chinese military aircraft operating together in that zone.
NORAD said the aircraft stayed in international airspace, did not enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign territory, and that the flight itself was not considered a threat. In a separate July episode, NORAD said U.S. fighters intercepted Russian aircraft in the same zone.
The Pentagon’s 2024 Arctic Strategy warned that growing Russia-China cooperation could “alter the Arctic’s stability and threat picture.” It called for greater U.S. presence, more exercises, and stronger preparedness. The strategy also flagged distance and thin infrastructure as obstacles and said Alaska’s bases remain essential for missile defense, surveillance, and rapid power projection.
That same strategic map helps explain why permanent access and basing debates keep surfacing, from U.S. military rights talks involving Greenland and Denmark to closer watches on Russian and Chinese patrol patterns near North America.
Davis framed the mission in plain terms. The goal is to stop trouble before it starts. If trouble comes anyway, Alaskan Command wants a response already practiced.
"Our hope is that we don’t have any adversarial activity because we’ve effectively deterred it. But if we do see it and we have kind of a play in the playbook ready to go. For a response."
He said forces are “postured very well for any of the anticipated threats that we think would come our way in the very near term.” If signs of a major escalation appear, Alaskan Command would likely request more forces and capabilities.
Resource competition is rising alongside the military traffic. Recent coverage has also tracked a U.S. firm’s Greenland rare-earth mine deal timed near broader Arctic security moves, another reminder that minerals, shipping lanes, and air corridors now sit on the same chessboard.
Operation Tundra Merlin is presented as an enduring campaign, not a one-off photo op. It pairs U.S. Army rocket crews, Air Force fighters and command aircraft, Coast Guard cutters, Canadian airlift and naval power, and NORAD’s air-defense mission into one northern shield.
For readers following the larger contest, related reporting has noted how leaders highlight permanent Arctic military access when rivals test the edges of the map. Alaska remains the front porch.
Weak borders invite pressure. Strong patrols, hard drills, and allies who show up on short notice are how a serious country keeps the High North from becoming someone else’s playground.
