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US opened its northernmost diplomatic station in Tromsø, Norway on Friday – highlights increased importance of the Arctic region for Washington
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-opens-its-northernmost-diplomatic-station-arctic-norway-2023-10-27/
I mean, sure. That post is going to remain non-military, but the United States is reeeaaalllyyyy beefing up and revamping military bases in the arctic circle, especially Greenland. My day job is filling out government work order forms for a private A-E firm (soul-sucking, pays well. Most of this information can be found on websites like SAM.gov, so I'm not posting anything necessarily new or classified here).
We've had word of three projects that the Army Corps of Engineers has been putting on hold over, and over, and over again for the last half-decade while we sit on the info, and just now they send out solicitations to overhaul pretty much all of their military major bases in the Arctic circle, all of them totaling to about an estimated billion (true costs can't be known till the project is complete, or at least until cost estimators can get their hands on it early-mid next year) dollars in fees, and that's just what I know about from work.
Something interesting is how at least two military air bases are being repurposed into space bases (under Space Force). Like, Thule Air Base in Greenland just got renamed to Pituffik Space Base. That's not to say the U.S. doesn't have a strong diplomatic and scientific presence in the circle, NSF has a very positive footprint in the arctic and opening up a diplomatic station is a good sign, but having this one diplomat open up shop in Norway for businesses against all these military base revamps is a tell for me what the U.S.'s priorities in the arctic really are, probably a big response to Russia's threats of going nuclear early in the Ukraine war. Then again I just fill out forms so I could be off-base here.
No, you’re most likely correct; the U.S. is focused on revamping its Arctic military presence, especially with the Russians rejoining the villain-of-the-month club and the Chinese showing increasing interest in the Arctic (hot take: in the event Russia breaks up due to internal pressures, the Chinese government will “lease” land along the Arctic coast from one of the successor states for big $$$). Radar stations can only do so much, you need air and marine assets to truly control the area (and the Canadians have their own ideas about Arctic sovereignty, in one of the few breaks from the U.S.).
I'll never forgive them for making a Space Force. America doesn't realize that it's often driving an arms race that's making the world less safe. I understand the theoretical strategic importance of the Arctic, but IMHO its significance is way overhyped and I'm legitimately convinced a decent chunk of the hype comes from a certain "woah" factor of the Arctic being the next frontier of conflict. Its importance will largely become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
China has had a separate space force since 2015. It is probably more accurate to say "participating in an arms race."
A "strategic support force" dedicated to "space, cyber, political, and electronic warfare" is a way's away in branding and focus from a full on "Space Force" filled with "Guardians". I am not opposing the mere investment into space defense (though there's certainly a conversation to be had on that front).