On Wednesday 11 February, NATO announced the launch of the Arctic Sentry - a “multi-domain activity” designed to enhance security in the Arctic.
“The Allied Command Operations (ACO), responsible for the planning and execution of all NATO exercises, activities and operations, launched Arctic Sentry today [Wednesday]”, the Alliance said in a statement. Arctic Sentry will be led by Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFC Norfolk).
While the Allies were already conducting regular exercises in the Arctic to ensure their ability to fight and operate in all conditions, “in the face of increased Russian military activity and China’s growing interest in the High North, it was crucial that we do more”, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte explained to the media.
Mr Rutte explained that Arctic Sentry “brings together the activities of NATO and its allies in the High North around a comprehensive operational approach”. “For the first time, we are now going to bring everything we do in the Arctic under a single command”, he added.
Initially, Arctic Sentry will build on Arctic Endurance, a series of Danish multi-domain exercises designed to enhance the Allies’ ability to operate in the region, and Cold Response, an upcoming Norwegian exercise for which troops from across the Alliance have already begun to deploy, says the Alliance. “These activities involve tens of thousands of people and the equipment needed for them to function properly in Arctic conditions”, said Rutte.
In his view, Arctic Sentry will not only strengthen the Alliance’s position in the region, but will also provide a “more coherent vision” of the potential challenges in the Arctic, “which will make it possible to fill the gaps”.
On his arrival in Brussels for the Council meeting of EU defence ministers on Wednesday 11 February, the Danish minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, welcomed NATO’s announcement on the eve of the organisation’s Council meeting. “This is a very good decision, which must now be implemented”, he explained. “We take seriously the threat posed by Russia and, behind it, China. And we are ready to deploy military capabilities to this end. And not to appease the Americans”, stressed his Dutch counterpart, Ruben Brekelmans.
While US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that Greenland is a matter of US national security, a NATO official said on Wednesday that Arctic Sentry was not focusing on the island.
The Sentry is “a defensive, transparent and cooperative framework that will enable us to be better connected, more aligned and more agile in the face of threats to Arctic security”, said a NATO military official, explaining that this could only be achieved as an Alliance. Despite this, before the official announcement of the launch, Russia had announced that “in the event of the militarisation of Greenland, of the creation there of military capabilities aimed at Russia, we will take appropriate countermeasures, including of a military-technical nature”.
The launch of Arctic Sentry is due to be discussed this Thursday at the meeting of allied defence ministers.
Defence expenditure. The ministers will also be looking at progress on the defence spending commitments made at the Hague summit last June.
According to Mark Rutte, the ministers will discuss how their countries are implementing the decisions taken in The Hague and the new increases in defence spending planned by our allies. “Investments have increased by several tens of billions (of euros)”, stressed Mark Rutte.
The ministers are also expected to discuss the development of the defence industrial base of allied countries on both sides of the Atlantic. “We need to produce more. This means stronger air defence, increased ammunition stocks and more robust supply chains within the alliance. We need to move faster, adopt new technologies, accelerate acquisitions and ensure that our defence industry is able to deliver quickly”, summarised Mr Rutte.
Task sharing. The ministers will also address the issue of burden transfer and how NATO is becoming more European. “We are dividing up the roles so that they are relevant to everyone”, the Secretary General stressed, pointing to progress in sharing leadership responsibilities within our NATO command structure.
As a result, more commands will be transferred to Europeans. On Tuesday, Alliance spokeswoman Allison Hart confirmed on X information published the day before by La Lettre A revealing that the joint force commands of Norfolk (United States) and Naples (Italy) would be handed over to Europeans - the United Kingdom for the former and Italy for the latter. The joint forces command at Brunssum (Netherlands) will be shared between Germany and Poland.
Allison Hart added that the United States would take the lead of the Allied Maritime Command at Northwood (UK) and retain the lead of the Allied Land and Air Commands at Izmir (Turkey) and Ramstein-Miesenbach (Germany) respectively. “Any measure that allows our Allies to become more involved and take on a greater role within the Alliance is good news and makes good sense”, stressed the American ambassador to NATO, Mark Whitaker, on Tuesday.
Ukraine. The ministers will then meet their Ukrainian counterpart, Mykhailo Fedorov, for a NATO-Ukraine Council, which will also be attended by the EU High Representative. This Council will be followed by a meeting of the contact group on the defence of Ukraine. 99% of aid to Ukraine comes from the Allies.
The Allies have reportedly pledged to buy more than $4.5 billion worth of American weapons under the PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List) initiative. To date, 21 Allies and two partners (Australia and New Zealand) have publicly supported this initiative, according to the American ambassador.
According to a NATO official, since last summer, PURL has supplied three quarters of the missiles used by Ukraine for its Patriot ballistic missile defence systems, and 90% of the ammunition for other air defence systems.
When asked about delays in the delivery of equipment via PURL, highlighted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a NATO military official said that there were no delays. “There are no delays and no direct link between financing and deliveries”, he explained. However, this official acknowledged that “Mr Zelensky is absolutely right about the lack of critical ammunition in Ukraine. Even PURL can’t provide everything”. “There is not enough and not fast enough”, he added.
The PURL initiative is not the only one providing military support to Ukraine. A NATO official explained that €16 billion worth of large-calibre ammunition was available on the market and that the target for 2026 was to mobilise at least €5 billion. According to him, €1.4 billion has already been pledged. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)