Overview

• On August 5 and 6, a Coast Guard C-130J aircraft and Cutter Waesche tracked and responded to the Ji Di and Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di operating in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea.
• The Coast Guard is monitoring five Chinese research vessels in or near US Arctic waters, part of a three-year increase in Beijing’s polar science missions.
• Commissioned in Juneau this week, the icebreaker USCGC Storis is the first US polar icebreaker in over 25 years and aims to strengthen sovereignty in the region.
• Under Operation Frontier Sentinel, the Coast Guard pairs aerial surveillance with cutter patrols to detect and counter foreign vessels in and around Alaskan and Arctic waters.
• Pentagon officials have urged expanded Arctic defenses, intelligence sharing and allied coordination as China, asserting its compliance with international law, deepens cooperation with Russia in the polar region.