Top Alaska Military Officer: "Homeland Defense in the Arctic Cannot be Seasonal or Episodic"

"Alaska is both a frontline for homeland defense and a strategic platform for projecting forces into the Arctic and the Pacific," says US Air Force Lieutenant General Robert Davis to HNN.

Davis is Commander of Alaskan Command, the Alaskan NORAD Region and Eleventh Air Force, and as the top military officer in Alaska, he is chief of some of the most crucial forces and command when it comes to the defense of North America.

In Alaska, in some of the most remote places of the continent, US forces train continually to defend the homeland and American national security. 

Enduring operations

For weeks, US and Canadian forces have been training to defend North America’s northern approaches and strengthening strategic deterrence through the homeland defense focused operation Tundra Merlin in the Alaskan theatre of operations. 

As HNN has reported previously, the operation combines capabilities across the land, sea, air, and space domains and is to achieve complete multi-domain awareness in the region.

“The operation is unfolding as intended: as a sustained homeland defense operation. Led by Alaskan Command, it provides an enduring framework to integrate joint and multinational forces across Alaska and its approaches, then increase or decrease the operational tempo as conditions and objectives require,” Davis explains.

This summer, US and Canadian forces have, among other things, demonstrated integration at sea, combining air and maritime capabilities across the North Pacific and the Arctic, including several combined patrols in the Bering Sea. 

The operation also demonstrated the ability to move combat power rapidly across the Arctic.

This was exemplified through the deployment of personnel and combat equipment to the city of Nome in Western Alaska, including US Army HIMARS and sensors for tracking and detecting incoming threats, which were transported aboard a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17. 

The operation also linked land and air capabilities and activities in an integrated defensive scenario. 

Davis notes that the operation itself is enduring and has no fixed end date. Specific activities take place in phases and will be more visible in some periods than in others.  

“That persistence is essential because homeland defense in the Arctic cannot be seasonal or episodic,” Davis emphasises. 

In an operational update provided by Alaskan Command, Davis notes that strategic competitors have grown increasingly bold in their activity in and around the Alaskan theatre of operations over the last several years.

As a result, Alaskan Command's mission of homeland defense has become even more important.

"We require constant awareness across multiple domains to detect, characterize and track actvity across the theatre, while maintaining the ability to respond at the time and place of our choosing with combat-ready forces. Alaskan Command's operation Tundra Merlin translates that mission into operational effects across the theatre," Davis said.

Increased visibility

From an outside perspective, there appears to be a significant increase in US military exercises and presence in Alaska and the US Arctic. How do you assess this development?

“The increased visibility is real. It reflects a deliberate shift from episodic training toward sustained campaigning in a strategically important region that can no longer be addressed only seasonally," Davis emphasises to HNN. 

 “We operate for three reasons: to build genuine Arctic proficiency; to validate the rapid movement, command and control, and sustainment of forces; and to deter aggression by demonstrating that any approach to North America will be detected and defended. These activities are defensive, transparent where operational security permits, conducted consistent with international law, and frequently executed with Allies and interagency partners," he continues. 

 “We are successful when our forces and partners generate a coherent response across domains and across vast distances. That is what Operation Tundra Merlin is designed to demonstrate.”

Strategic hotspot

The state of Alaska sits at the northwest corner of the US and holds a crucial strategic value, located at gateway between the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic regions.   

In the the past years, Arctic strategies have been published by several US departments and military branches, pointing to the increasingly accessible region becoming a venue for strategic competition, as noted in the 2024 Department of Defense Arctic Strategy.

In the strategy, the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia is highlighted as one of the strategically significant maritime chokepoints, where reduction in sea ice also is making it more navigable and more economically and military significant.

How do you assess the current security situation in the North American Arctic and Bering Strait region? 

“The security environment is more complex and more strategically consequential than it was a decade ago. Most foreign activity occurs in international airspace and waters, and our cadre of trained professionals distinguish lawful activity from threatening behavior," Davis explains. 

“At the same time, we monitor and assess the strategic impact of lawful activity. The reach, sophistication, and coordination of operations near Alaska have increased, reducing warning time and testing our ability to maintain awareness and respond,” he adds.  

Russian-Chinese coordination

The Alaskan Command chief furthermore highlights two developments that are of concern from a homeland defense perspective.

“One is closer operational coordination between Russia and the People’s Republic of China," he says and illustrates:

"In 2024, NORAD detected the first combined Russian and Chinese bomber patrol in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and the U.S. Coast Guard observed the first combined Chinese Coast Guard and Russian Border Guard patrol in the Bering Sea.”

“Closer Russian-Chinese coordination adds complexity to the activity we must detect, track, and be prepared to respond to,” Davis says. 

Meanwhile, Russian military aircraft continue to operate regularly in the Alaskan ADIZ, including formations that combine bombers, fighters, and airborne command-and-control aircraft, he points out. 

"Russian military aviation near Alaska is established and recurring."

Chinese activity farther north

The other development that Davis highlights is the expanding reach of Chinese activity, including maritime operations farther north.

While Chinese military activity near Alaska remains less frequent, the expansion in range is also one of the things that makes it more notable, he explains. 

“From a homeland defense perspective, that means Chinese forces are demonstrating an ability to operate closer to North America’s northern approaches. We assess each event on its own facts, but we also watch what these operations reveal about their ability to reach and sustain forces near Alaska,” he continues. 

“Our response is disciplined and defensive: improve all-domain awareness, maintain credible deterrence and response options; exercise with Canada, Allies, partners, and the joint force; and work closely with the Coast Guard and our Allies and partners. Our objective is to maintain deterrence and stability in the Arctic,” the top military officer in Alaska maintains.

"Moving beyond periodic engagement"

How would you describe the cooperation with other Arctic Allies, such as the Nordic countries? 

"Cooperation with our Nordic Allies is strong and increasingly operational. We are moving beyond periodic engagement toward more routine planning, training, information-sharing, and force integration across the North American and European Arctic," Davis notes. 

"In particular, we coordinate closely with our NATO Ally, the Kingdom of Denmark, and our Greenlandic partners. NORAD and USNORTHCOM’s Arctic Edge 2026, a joint, multi-domain field training exercise to test and improve military readiness in extreme cold-weather Arctic environments brought together U.S., Canadian, Danish, and interagency participants across Alaska and Greenland," he continues. 

He furthermore highlights how US forces train with Norway, Sweden, Finland, and other NATO Allies in High North exercises such as Cold Response and Arctic Challenge.

"Working across the High North in a reciprocal pattern is important to build interoperability and share lessons learned across the Arctic." 

"The geography differs, but the operating problems are familiar; extreme cold, long distances, limited infrastructure, difficult communications, and demanding logistics. Our Nordic Allies bring deep expertise in cold-weather operations, dispersed basing, and regional sustainment. The United States and Canada contribute continental defense experience and integrated command and control. Our goal is to make those capabilities interoperable across the Arctic," he concludes.