(Editor’s note: This post by Marine Corps Times staff writer Gina Harkins first appeared on that publication’s Battle Rattle blog.) New sea lanes are opening around the the North Pole due to melting ice, and the Navy and Marine Corps are ready to defend them if needed. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert met with Navy Times reporters and editors in late February to discuss where the service is headed. One of the places he highlighted might not be on the minds of sailors and Marines, but with more ships likely to use new routes opening in coming years,…
Browsing: Arctic
Ice is on the outs in the Arctic. As a result there is an enormous treasure-trove of previously undiscovered natural resources being made accessible by the receding ice. Now Russia, the U.S., Greenland and everybody in between who has an Arctic coastline is struggling for control of as much loot as possible. So, Arctic research has become a popular subject around the defense establishment. Apparently scientists teaming with the Coast Guard are still working out some kinks. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports a joint Coast Guard-University of Washington study got off to a rough start when an $18,000 buoy dropped from a…