Britain seeks a bigger naval role in the North Atlantic. Outstanding. But ...
Britain wants to defend the North Atlantic from Russian intrusion:
Atlantic Bastion was outlined in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) as the Royal Navy’s ‘plan to secure the North Atlantic’ – primarily against underwater threats. The use of the word ‘Bastion’ harks to Soviet and subsequent Russian concepts, where defence of a Barents Sea Bastion is vital to defence of Russia and its strategic nuclear forces, and provides a safe haven for conventional strike platforms to threaten adversaries from.
In the coming decades, deterrence in the ‘Wider North’ will be decided by this ‘Battle of the Bastions’.Considering this, this two-part Memorandum aims to explore why the Barents Sea Bastion matters to the Kremlin, why the Atlantic Bastion matters to the UK, and why a more forward model of Atlantic Bastion is best suited to Britain’s needs, rather than a more defensive approach centred on defending the Atlantic at the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap.
Holding the G-I-UK Gap back in the Cold War conceded Soviet control of lines of communication to NATO Norway. Today, Sweden and Finland are in the game. And Russia's fleet and land-based air power that can poke their noses south are much weaker. So yes, a more forward defense at sea is possible and needed.
I appreciate the mention of the Russian bastion, however. Given how damned paranoid the Russians are, I want them feeling nice and nuclear deterrent cozy warm in their Barents Sea SSBN bastion.
Tip to Michael Palmer.
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