The head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command says that China and Russia have air cooperation in the Arctic. Of Norad “Full attention.”
The two countries first conducted a joint patrol in the Arctic off the coast of Alaska last July.
US General Gregory Gillott told The Canadian Press in an interview a year ago that it would likely take decades for the two countries' militaries to reach “full integration” at the same level as the US and Canada.
“We see it as integrated right now, meaning they can safely operate in the same area (but) nowhere near the level of integration that the Canadian Forces and the U.S. Forces have,” he said. He said. “As they continue to do more there, that's certainly our focus and it's something we've watched very closely.”
For the first time, NORAD's strategic rivals — Russia, China, North Korea and Iran — have really had “an unprecedented level of back-and-forth communication between them,” he noted.
Canada has been politically out of step with US officials for the past year over its backtracking on its NATO commitments on defense spending. Although it's a conflict that will only begin in 2025 when Donald Trump takes over the presidency, Guillot said the incident highlighted the deep ties between the two militaries.
“2024 has been a great year for Canada's military-to-military relationship,” he said, pointing to how CF-18s and US F-16s and F-35s responded to the July incident. How did you cooperate?
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“The Canadians were still operating out of Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, and were able to go into Norad's role and respond with us. You can only do that if you have years and years of complete But have integrated training.
He said there had been only a slight increase in Russian activity this year, with a notable incident in late September when Russian bombers were spotted from Alaska, though not in US or Canadian sovereign airspace.
When an F-16 fighter jet moved in to intercept one of the bombers, it maneuvered too close to the American plane.
“One of the fighters acted in a very unsafe and unprofessional manner, which was surprising to me because you wouldn't expect that from a professional air force,” he said.
But even so, he said, the challenge Nord faces with Russia is that the country is able to threaten the U.S. more and more remotely, which has led Nord to improve its threat detection capabilities. Focused on capacity building.
General Guillot, who is from Arizona and took up his role at the top of Norad this year, said the two countries needed to improve their Arctic presence through more exercises and campaigns.
This is because forces operating in the cold north need to be accustomed to the harsh and cold conditions for a time of crisis.
Weeks ago, he traveled to Cold Lake, Alta. — which he joked “lives up to its name” — where he flew in the CF-18, an RCAF aircraft modernized as a bridge to Canada's transition to the F-35. is being made.
But he hasn't been to the high north yet, and is planning a trip to Inuvik, NWT, possibly in February to better acquaint himself with operations there.
His Arctic travels so far have been around Alaska, where he has been surprised by the harsh conditions. The vast space there covers more than half of Norad's area of responsibility, and the great distance between the bases makes it a “challenging environment” for aircrews responding to Russian aircraft.
U.S. and Canadian forces are considering spending more time operating at the extremes of the Arctic in 2025, he said.
He also noted that the U.S. is hosting Canadian pilots who will eventually fly the F-35 at Eelson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks, Alaska, for training. The plan is to show them that “operating and maintaining a fifth-generation fighter, especially in the Arctic region, is very different than the fourth-generation fighter we have with the F-15s and F-16s and The Canadians are with the F-18s,” he said.
“We're starting it now to help speed up the transition.”
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