{"id":13339,"date":"2023-10-20T09:17:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T12:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=13339"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:17:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T12:17:48","slug":"problemas-que-se-presentan-con-el-equipamiento-de-las-tropas-para-el-combate-en-el-artico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=13339","title":{"rendered":"Problemas que se presentan con el equipamiento de las tropas para el combate en el \u00c1rtico"},"content":{"rendered":"

El US Army enfrenta una serie de desaf\u00edos para lograr que sus tropas puedan operar de manera efectiva en la Regi\u00f3n \u00c1rtica, zona hoy de gran relevancia estrat\u00e9gica. Ocurre que muchos sistemas de armas, veh\u00edculos y toda clase de equipamiento est\u00e1ndar, no funcionan en esas zonas de condiciones clim\u00e1ticas extremas. La realizaci\u00f3n de ejercitaciones realistas, ha puesto en evidencia la necesidad de adoptar nuevos enfoques innovadores para la resoluci\u00f3n de muchos problemas asociados a las bajas temperaturas y el clima extremo. Bater\u00edas de los dispositivos electr\u00f3nicos que se descargan r\u00e1pidamente, comunicaciones que no funcionan, fluidos de sistemas hidr\u00e1ulicos de veh\u00edculos y ca\u00f1ones que se congelan, dificultad para el empleo de drones, etc, son algunos de los desaf\u00edos a enfrentar para evitar que \u201cLa tecnolog\u00eda se convierta en un factor de debilidad<\/em>\u201d para las fuerzas en combate.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. Army faces a host of challenges in moving beyond just surviving in and around\u00a0the ever-more strategic Arctic region<\/a>\u00a0to actually being\u00a0able to operate there effectively<\/a>. Many standard weapons and other equipment, as well as typical tactics, techniques, and procedures, literally do not work in this part of the world. This, in turn, is prompting calls for new and innovative approaches to many problems, many of which might be easily solvable in more temperate climes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Senior Army officers and civilians gave a blunt assessment of the difficulties the service faces in operating in the Arctic during a panel talk at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual convention in Washington, D.C., last week. They highlighted how extremely cold temperatures and basic geography mean units in the High North face unique equipment-related and logistical problems with everything from satellite communications to just keeping batteries charged. Many operational tasks, including setting up artillery positions, conducting basic first aid, and just moving from point A to point B, are also much harder than they would be at lower latitudes.<\/p>\n

A New Arctic Army<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Arctic has been seeing renewed strategic attention from the U.S. military\u00a0for years now<\/a>. Global climate change has caused the polar ice caps to\u00a0recede, opening up new access<\/a>\u00a0to natural resources and trade routes. This, in turn, has created new geopolitical competition, and the potential for conflict,\u00a0especially with Russia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0China<\/a>, as a byproduct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though the Army has a long history in high latitude and high altitude regions, and operating in extreme cold,\u00a0especially in Alaska<\/a>, its focus on fighting in these conditions steadily diminished following the end of the Cold War. The service has more recently sought to course-correct, particularly with the adoption of\u00a0a new Arctic strategy in 2021<\/a>\u00a0and the re-activation of the\u00a011th Airborne Division<\/a>\u00a0at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska as an Arctic-focused organization last year.<\/p>\n

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A graphic showing the organization of the US Army I Corps (First Corps), which now includes the 11th Airborne Division, as well as other “enablers” that aligned to support it. US Army<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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To say that this has come along with new challenges is an understatement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Quite honestly, the Army likes to give everybody the same communications gear [and other equipment]. Like everybody gets the same of this, everybody gets the same of that. That doesn’t work in the Arctic,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, head of the 11th Airborne, said during last week’s panel talk. “A lot of the equipment [does] not function well.”<\/p>\n

Communicating In The Arctic<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Satellite connectivity is a well-established issue at higher latitudes simply due to where the vast majority of constellations are positioned in space around the Earth. This has impacts on the ability of 11th Airborne and other units operating in the High North to communicate, as well as share data, navigate, and otherwise make use of space-based systems that other Army units take for granted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“If you’re trying to get satellite TV up in the Arctic Circle, your satellite dish would be pointing right down along the ground, because that’s where it’s going to get the satellite, maybe, if it’s not obstructed,” Maj. Gen. Eifler explained. “We’re doing some more innovative techniques [to help ensure connectivity], but that I won’t talk about here.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He did say that the Army has been working with SpaceX to see about\u00a0leveraging its Starlink constellation<\/a>, which is highly distributed in nature and therefore offers more potential links. He also brought up\u00a0Iridium Satellite Communications<\/a>, which does have some\u00a0satellites in dedicated polar orbits<\/a>. In any future major conflict, satellites, in general,\u00a0will be heavily targeted<\/a>, and potential adversaries like China are already exploring\u00a0options for tackling distributed constellations<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

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A graphic depicting the coverage offered by Iridium’s satellite constellations, including polar orbits. Iridium Satellite Communications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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With the issues limiting satellite coverage in the Arctic, the commander of the 11th Airborne noted that line-of-sight communications suites are very important to his units as a result, even if they are more limited in their capabilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“What we found in the Arctic, as some of our Arctic neighbors know, the older the equipment is, the better it works. The more technology you have, the more challenges you have,” Maj. Gen. Eifler said. “So sometimes the technology is our enemy.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the same time, though line-of-sight links can be viewed as older (and therefore less capable) technology, at least for some applications, they can still take advantage of more modern developments. This includes the use of\u00a0highly adaptable software-defined radios<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0networked drones as relay nodes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frozen Weapons And Equipment<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The extreme cold temperatures commonly experienced in and around the Arctic just wreak havoc on weapons and other systems originally designed to be used in more temperate environments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“You think of hydraulics and things that freeze … metals, you know, sort of changes that at like 15, below zero, right? That’s why they don’t operate chairlifts [at ski resorts] at 15 below zero, by the way,” Maj. Gen. Eifler explained. “You talk about triple sevens [the\u00a0155mm M777 towed howitzer<\/a>], the artillery piece, a lot of hydraulics to that. It starts having some challenges at freezing temperatures.”<\/p>\n

Last year, the Army\u00a0withdrew a fleet of 8×8 Stryker<\/a>\u00a0wheeled vehicles from Alaska in part because of persistent difficulties in keeping them running in cold weather conditions. Those vehicles had been assigned to what is now known as 1st Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.<\/p>\n