In 2023, Mads Petersen, founder of the Greenland-based startup Arctic Unmanned, endured extreme cold in a car while testing a small drone in temperatures of minus 43 degrees Celsius (minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit), and the freezing conditions quickly drained the drone’s battery.
“The battery only lasted for three minutes,” he recalled.
Governments in the Arctic are striving to address such issues as the region’s geopolitical significance grows.
Russia and China have increased military activity in the Arctic, while NATO countries in the area face rising sabotage on energy and communication infrastructure. Recently, President Donald Trump renewed U.S. claims over Greenland.
The conflict in Ukraine, meanwhile, has shown that unmanned aircraft can provide critical intelligence and strike capabilities on the battlefield.
US Focuses On Unmanned Technology
The United States, which sees the Arctic as crucial for territorial defence and its early warning system against nuclear attacks, said in a July strategy document it would focus on unmanned technology to counter Chinese-Russian collaboration there. Russian and Chinese bomber planes flew together off the coast of Alaska in July and their coast guard ships sailed together through the Bering Strait in October.
But drones – whether multicopters or fixed-wing models – are vulnerable. Only the largest, long-range models have enough power for anti-icing systems like those used by aircraft. Cold, fog, rain or snow can cause a malfunction or crash.
With countries boosting military spending, a Reuters survey of 14 companies and six defence ministries and armed forces in northern Europe and America shows the industry working at pace to buy or develop drones that can endure icy conditions, and increasing urgency among NATO states to acquire them.
“We are all having to catch up with Ukraine and Russia,” said General Major Lars Lervik, head of the Norwegian Army.
No global data is publicly available on states’ military drone fleets, but Lervik said the war in Ukraine has given Moscow and Kyiv valuable experience of drone technology that NATO countries lack.
Russia’s Arctic Drone Fleet
Russia, whose military began building up a drone fleet in the Arctic in 2014, took an early lead in the race to control the Northern Sea Route, a passage between Europe and Asia along Russia’s northern coast, said James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at Cornell University and a UN and NATO policy adviser.
Russia’s Zala Aero, part of the Kalashnikov Group, already offers drones designed for extreme Arctic conditions and Russia has also said its long-range S-70 Okhotnik combat drone can operate at minus 12 Celsius and will be deployed there.
“We’re moving towards a point where Russia will not only have unarmed surveillance drone systems along the Northern Sea Route, but potentially armed systems that are constantly patrolling those areas as well,” said Rogers.
He said NATO had been slow to devise a coherent response. NATO said it has strengthened its presence in the Arctic and set up a new Command to keep Atlantic lines free and secure; NATO states are investing in new air and maritime capabilities.
The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on that but said in an email the U.S. would continue to prioritise security in the Western Hemisphere and its presence in the Arctic.
US Invests In Long-Range Drones
The U.S. has already invested heavily in long-range drones to monitor and gather real-time information from the Arctic – a vast region where radar and satellite coverage are limited. These craft can operate at lower altitudes for surveillance, but if they do they face the same risk of icing as smaller models.
The risk to drones is highest in temperatures just either side of freezing – between 8 degrees and minus 10 degrees Celsius, according to drone pilots and experts. A thin layer of ice forms on propellers and wings and destroys the aerodynamics.
($1 = 7.0956 Danish crowns)
(With inputs from Reuters)
