How many icebreakers does russia have

China is upping its polar capabilities by pouring money into the construction of a fifth Antarctic research station, completing its second polar icebreaker and conducting six expeditions to the Arctic. The Arctic is a geopolitical convergence point. Without new investment in polar capabilities, our adversaries' influence will grow. The risk is less protection of U.

At the center of U. This program will produce a fleet of six new icebreakers — including the first heavy icebreakers built in U. Congress has already funded the first vessel, which should undergo sea trials by The Coast Guard has requested funding for the second vessel. These ships cannot come fast enough. Secretary Seward made that historic deal for Alaska years ago. The only folly would be to cede to our adversaries, through underinvestment and neglect, the Arctic advantage the United States has long enjoyed.

Roger Wicker, R-Miss. By Sen. Roger Wicker and Sen. More generally, the U. It is unclear why Russia or China possessing more icebreakers would undermine that deterrent.

Others have argued that U. Second, the implications of relative numbers of icebreakers look different when considering the vastly different Arctic contexts, particularly for the United States and Russia. According to the Arctic Institute, Russia has roughly 24, kilometers of coastline and two million inhabitants in the Arctic. Russian interests dictate a large number of icebreakers. By comparison, the United States has roughly 4, kilometers 2, miles of Arctic shoreline and approximately 68, people living in the Alaskan Arctic.

Oil and gas extraction, even when including the non-Artic portion, makes up a very small percentage of the U. The U. A third problem with focusing solely on counts of U.

Non-Arctic allies, such as the United Kingdom , have interests and assets relevant to the region as well. Even if they are not able to directly contribute to a particular issue, allies and partners can free up U. They can also help improve situational awareness and manage tensions more broadly to minimize dangers and create opportunities in and near the North American and European Arctic. Finally, icebreakers do not give states the ability to claim resources that will become available as climate change leads to less ice coverage.

This is not the 19th century, when prospectors or military forces could stake claims to new territory. To be sure, icebreakers are necessary to access polar areas even as ice cover diminishes. They are an important element of Arctic sovereignty as a result. However, the number that other countries possess does not affect the number that the United States requires to provide access to its exclusive economic zone.

It is also unlikely that a country would use icebreakers to stake a claim to the U. If it did, capabilities other than icebreakers would be better suited to dislodging them should diplomacy fail. As the United States approaches the potential of competition extending to the Arctic, it should place the region in a broader geopolitical context, consider a broader set of tools to advance U.

The best way to deal with China and Russia in the Arctic is to address disputes in their own backyards. Most of the pathways to a great-power crisis that could end up affecting the Arctic stem from crises outside the region. Russia has the world's longest Arctic coastline and is betting on the nearby Northern Sea Route to support cargo shipping and natural-resource extraction.

Icebreakers will be central to that activity. Petersburg on November 3. We must build up our positions, strengthen and update our fleet, introduce new advanced technologies in the construction of icebreakers and other vessels of that class.

Russia has some 50 icebreakers, the most recent of which officials say is the world's largest and most powerful , and more are on the way. The US's focus elsewhere for the past two decades has meant less emphasis on the Arctic, whereas Russia's plans for the region have led to more investment in icebreakers and ice-hardened ships, according to Elizabeth Buchanan, a lecturer in strategic studies with Australia's Deakin University.

The Coast Guard plans to build at least three more heavy icebreakers, and a contract has already been awarded to begin the design and construction of the first one, with a hoped-for arrival in In a memorandum this summer, President Donald Trump called for "a ready, capable, and available fleet" that is "fully deployable" by Canada's navy recently received the first of six Arctic offshore patrol ships, which can break ice up to a yard thick and will allow the service to spend more time in the Arctic.

Britain's new polar research ship, designed to operate in ice up to a yard thick, also recently sailed for its sea trials. Polar Star can break up to 21 feet of ice and Healy up to 4. China now has two operational icebreakers , the newest of which recently completed its first Arctic expedition. China has made clear its ambitions for the high north, describing itself as a "near-Arctic power. More so, it won't change legal architecture or [the] fact that icebreakers don't shift maritime borders," Buchanan said, adding that changes in the amount of ice in the Arctic will also affect the utility of icebreakers.

Tensions in the Arctic are low, and spillover from conflict somewhere else is seen as the most likely cause of a clash there.