Recommendation 108

The UK has historically played an important role within NATO in anti-submarine warfare and air policing in the High North and the Arctic. Among NATO allies, only Britain and the US have the capability to conduct nuclear submarine patrols under the ice cap. The demands on these capabilities in the High North are growing as Russia has invested in its Northern Fleet. The Government’s policy paper on the UK’s defence contribution in the High North notes that Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic has reached “Cold War levels”, 134 and there is the added challenge of monitoring the new generation of Russian submarines, which are significantly quieter and so harder to detect. 135