Military challenged by changing arctic landscape.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

Patrolling the cold, icy waters of the Arctic has long been the responsibility of the Coast Guard, but as polar ice melts and ship traffic in the area increases, the Navy may take a larger role in securing the region.

The Navy and Coast Guard will need additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, more reliable communications and better mapping and logistical support to safeguard the region, according to retired military officials and the Defense Department's 2013 Arctic strategy.

Meanwhile, industry officials and policy experts are waiting with anticipation on the Navy's new Arctic roadmap to be published this year. With no requirements spelled out in the overall strategy, company executives are hoping the Navy's roadmap will give them a better picture of sales opportunities, said Ashley Godwin, senior defense advisor for the Shipbuilders Council of America.

The Navy is hard at work studying how much investment will be needed in the region, said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus at a December event held by the U.S. Naval Institute.

"A northwest passage is already opening up. Ships are already going through there. You've got a lot of resources in the Arctic, which may cause some friction among Arctic countries. Countries are already sort of staking out their claims to that," he said. "It's clear that we are going to have increased responsibilities there, and it's clear that we have to make sure we can provide that presence and that ability to respond, and I think we're on a path to do that."

a It's not only new platforms and technologies that are needed to secure the nation's interests north of the Arctic Ocean, he said. The United States' territorial claims will be frozen in place unless Congress signs onto the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. That would allow the nation to extend its claim up to 400 miles beyond its current holding of 200 miles from Alaska's northern coast.

"Other countries that have passed it--which is virtually every country on Earth but us--have a much stronger legal basis for the assertions that they make than do we. And if we want to protect things like our access to natural resources, if we want to protect freedom of navigation, if we want to protect the things that we hold dear, [Congress needs] to pass that law of the sea treaty," Mabus said.

The dual forces of diminishing polar ice and increased human activity will likely exacerbate security challenges in the Arctic, said...