The American Special Operations community, working in tandem with partners from the UK, Danish, and Norwegian special ops units, recently conducted an innovative training exercise high above the Arctic Circle as a part of Arctic Edge 24.
400 special operators participated in the exercise, which included training in, "diving operations, fast-roping from helicopters, snow mobile transits, long-range movements across the Arctic Circle," an Army press release explained.
Arctic Edge is an annual exercise that highlights the capabilities of the multi-national special ops community and demonstrates that the Arctic is an important theater of operations for U.S. Northern Command.
This time around, the exercise included an added event, which tasked soldiers and sailors to attempt an untested capability which also involved a fast attack submarine.
North of Uqtiagvik, Alaska, 15 Navy SEALs and Norwegian commandos rode inside a Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) MH-47G helicopter flying above the Arctic Circle. Upon landing, the SEALs and Norwegians drove four snowmobiles off the back of the helicopter and then coordinated for an air drop from a C-130 aircraft overhead. After recovering the air drop package, they then moved across the ice on their snow mobiles to where a the USS Hampton waited for them.
Just moments prior, the Los Angeles-class submarine had surfaced through the ice, emerging from the arctic waters below. The special operators navigated their snowmobiles to the submarine and delivered the air-dropped package to them. It marked the first time that such a training event had been executed.
"Given the frequency with which we are training alongside our Allied partners and demonstrating our combined expertise in some of the most severe environments on the planet, we are sending a clear message about our warfighting ability and our preparedness to defend the homeland across the Arctic region," explained Capt. Bill Gallagher of Naval Special Warfare Group Two.