Russia's NS 50 is the largest Icebreaker in the world.
Canada has recently begun Military exercises in the North Arctic region of their Country. This has been an ongoing discussion over the last few years. Canada, USA, Denmark, Norway and Russia are the only 5 countries that lay claim to regions of the Arctic. Due to global warming many of the ice caps and glaciers are melting and scientists believe there may be valuable natural resources such as minerals and even oil.
There has been a lot of speculation as to who will control the Arctic territory. Back in 2007 Russian explorers planted their flag on the seabed below the North Pole which caused a lot of ruckus and controversy among the other countries. Although this topic has been somewhat under the radar expect to see more coverage as time progresses and more ice starts to melt.
The Canadian Forces are attempting to show strength. The country’s military is not viewed as very powerful by most other nations and Denmark and Norway’s defense forces are significantly smaller than Russia’s or the United States. Denmark has just fewer than 23,000 active military members, Norway has around 27,000 and Canada is at right around 66,000. Russia has the 5th largest active duty military behind China, USA, India and North Korea. If you were to count active and inactive duty members, Russia would outnumber the United States.
Unlike Antarctica, which has a treaty that restricts territorial claims, there is no agreement on the Arctic region. So questions about drilling and territorial claims or even who would be responsible for environmental damage are very unclear.
Security expert John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org speculates that whoever has the best access to the Arctic region is most likely to control that area and right now it is Russia. Arctic sea ice is usually 1 to 3 meters up to (9 feet) thick. It is thickest during autumn and winter and shrinks during the spring and summer. Researchers have studied this for the past 50 years. It takes a special kind of ship called an “Icebreaker” to penetrate this ice. As of 2008, Russia reportedly had 6 Icebreaker boats, working to increase their fleet to 14. The USA has 2 that are worn out and very old. Russia also boasts of owning the world’s largest one, completing it in May of last year. These boats can take a long time to manufacture, up to 10 years. Canada has 2 active Icebreakers and has had this technology for over 100 years.
For more information on Icebreaker statistics navigate to:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/List_of_icebreakers
Canada is also concerned by the melting of ice each year through their Northwest Passage area, again according to scientists to be the result of global warming. This passage area if melted could be a key area that links the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, providing a significant shipping route for the country.
For statistics on World Military population navigate to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops
*The numbers provided are an approximation and not exact
Related Articles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8204531.stm
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