"The strategy that makes the most sense to the Coast Guard is this potential to lease one of these icebreakers", Ray said in an exchange triggered by Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Security Chair Senator Dan Sullivan, who asked whether a friendly Arctic nation such as Finland should be exempted from a law requiring that American military ships be built in the United States.
“It’s no secret that Finland has boasted, apparently with some ability to back it up, they can build an icebreaker within two years and they could do it for less than $300 million", Sullivan said.
The United States currently possesses a single heavy-class icebreaker, the 44-year-old Polar Star, plus a medium-duty icebreaker now out of commission due to an engine room fire. In contrast, Russia operates a fleet of more than 50 icebreakers.
“We've seen Russia push all in on controlling the Arctic. Russia has opened 16 deep water ports, 14 airfields, built arctic military bases and even formed a new northern Arctic command", he added.
In August, a Russian military exercise extended into a US zone of the Bering Sea, where American fishing captains were startled and angered to hear Russians warning them to leave the area, according to media reports.
Plans call for a US to eventually operate fleet of six icebreakers, and to open at least two deep water ports in the far north capable of hosting the ships. At present, the closest ports in the state of Alaska are at least 1,000 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Sullivan said.
A receding polar ice cap due to climate change has set in motion a scramble to develop vast reserves of oil, natural gas and other minerals and to develop commercial shipping routes.