US's wants to challenge Russia's icebreakers in the Arctic

The US president Donald Trump's has stated that the US has a new  objective and that is to surpass Russia in the number of icebreakers it has in service. Now that is going to be one enomous task as Russia is the global leader in this field, with the US's fleet comprising only two very old vessels both destined for the scrap yard. In fact they would end up like the Titanic if they ventured into the Arctic
For the US to surpass Russia or even come close to narrowing the gap, the United States is going to have  to construct 48 additional icebreakers. Now that is a seriously big ask of a shipbuilding sector with little to no experience in building ice breakers unlike Russia who have been building them for years and have extensive experience not to mention knowledge of how to do it.
Analysts have noted that the United States will require the assiatnce of a number of countries to do this. The question therefore arises as to who are they likely to , and how effectively, could they provide assistance.
The United States aims to significantly expand its icebreaker fleet. According to the United States President Donald Trump, Washington intends to order the construction of 48 icebreakers in the near future. He also emphasised that Russia has over 40 such vessels, underscoring the United States' lag in this regard.
Now before I continue I would like to make an appeal,if you like and enjoy my videos you can help me fund the channel and my websited sco brics insight .com and to further develop it. You can do this by making a small donation which you can do by clicking on the thanks button at the bottom of the video screen. Everybody who donates does get a personal thank you from me.

Trump's high-profile initiative has already attracted the attention of their neighbours in Canada. David Hargreaves, the vice president of the shipping company Seaspan, has called the US plans "very ambitious" in an interview for DefenseNews. I think he was either being sarcastic or was understating the size of the challenge they face.
He also offered Washington his companies assistance in producing the number of vessels that are planned. Specifically, he highlighted the company's readiness to adapt their Polar Class 4 icebreaker to meet the needs of the US.

Currently, Washington's icebreaker fleet consists of two heavy icebreakers: the Polar Star and the Healy. These will continue to operate until replacements are found. However, according to the Government Accountability Office, both ships "have exceeded their planned service life and require extensive maintenance." Which means they are pretty old and not exactly seaworthy.

At the same time, The Wall Street Journal notes that the building  of the new icebreakers will be an incredibly  difficult task for the United States. The White House did sign a contract for the construction of three Polar Sentinel-model vessels back in 2019, but the first of them will not be ready until after 2030. The total cost of building the machines is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office at $5.1 billion (it has exceeded the original estimate by 60% but that is not unusual in US Dept of Defence procurement). So if three US icebreakers cannot be build in less than a decade then what chance does Trump or the US have in building 40? a hundred years maybe?

Its  a similar situation with the icebreaker fleet of the United States' closest allies. ( if you can call them a fleet)For instance, Canada, which has a 2,030 km Arctic coastline , possesses only two heavy icebreakers, and the collective icebreaker fleet of all European Arctic Council countries amounts to just 13 aging vessels of this type.

In comparison, Russia's fleet is noteworthy for its size and capabilities. Its  fleet comprises 34 diesel and seven nuclear icebreakers. Last fall, the fifth nuclear icebreaker of Project 2220, the Chukotka, was ceremoniously launched at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The ship is  scheduled for completion and sea trials in 2026.

By 2030, the United Shipbuilding Corporation is expected to transfer a total of seven nuclear icebreakers to Rosatom. This figure will include the already constructed Arktika, Sibir, and Ural which are already in operation, as well as the Chukotka and Yakutia, which soon to be in operation. A sixth icebreaker, Leningrad, will be added to them in 2028, and in 2030, the series should be completed by the seventh ship, the Stalingrad. It should be noted that this figure excludes smaller support vessels that are scheduled to be delivered to the Russian Navy in the near future.

Russian analyts have pointed out that the initiative to develop an icebreaker fleet is a result of the United States acknowledging Russia's significant superiority in this area. Ths is in the context of the growing strategic importance of the Arctic, the head of the White House aims to not only achieve parity with Moscow in this area, but also to surpass it. ( Good Luck with that Donny,you only have four years)

"Are we underestimate the production capacities of America and the European Union?. Orders will be placed in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and other countries where there are large shipyards. The US has the capacity to construct a number of icebreakers independently if required," says political scientist and Americanist Rafael Ordukhanyan, Doctor of Political Science. I actually think he is being polite as their is not a snowballs chance in hell of them every reaching even a quarter of that figure

"However, it will not going be easy for the United States to catch up with Russia, and it is very unlikely that it will succeed.

Russia has a long-standing scientific and organisational tradition in the construction of icebreakers. In the Soviet Union, an entire national programme was dedicated to this. This is itsour historical legacy . In contrast, the United States has virtually no such knowledge."
It is also important to note that in the past the US focused on building aircraft carrier groups and building military bases around the world and "gave up on the Arctic" because it did not see Russia as a future competitor after the collapse of the USSR, recalls Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Centre for Security Studies.

"Today, China, South Korea and Japan are the leaders in civilian shipbuilding. Therefore, the United States will be not only be relying on itself, but also on its allies in Europe and Asia to build icebreakers. Of course, Trump is interested in organising production in the United States, but the Americans cannot do it alone," the analyst believes. 

At the same time, Trump's ambitions in the Arctic are understandable, as rough estimates put the Arctic's natural resource reserves at $60 trillion - and the Americans want to strengthen their presence in the region. That however is easier said than done.
If you take Trump's comments on Greenland - this is competition for the Arctic. Its importance will only grow, including politically," Blokhin said. Ordukhanyan agrees that the political component of the Arctic race is coming to the fore: "The very fact that the United States has announced a programme to build icebreakers shows that they are seriously thinking about the future prospects of competition between the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage," he argues.

"This explains their interest in Greenland. Acquiring the island would significantly expand the US zone of influence in the Arctic. It is quite possible that they themselves will try to subjugate regional trade routes," the source adds. Ordukhanyan stresses that all the world's leading powers are already involved in the Arctic programme: Russia, America and China.

"In response to Washington's actions, Moscow needs to build a strategic partnership with the other countries of the BRICS including  China for joint exploitation of the Northern Sea Route. The initiation of the "Arctic Silk Road" will facilitate the delivery of cargo from Shanghai to Hamburg in 18 days, as opposed to the current 35-day duration via the Suez Canal. It is obvious that Chinese companies recognise the benefits of cooperating with Russian Federation, which,  controls about half of the Arctic coastline and the lion's share of Arctic hydrocarbon reserves.
At the same time, theare also aware that Russia is interested in creating new ports and opening oil and gas projects. While Moscow may have hesitated to involve Beijing in the development of the Arctic coast in the past, the current environment appears to be more receptive to Chinese involvement.
Of course on the other hand, Russia could offer some cooperation to the United States to avoid turning the Arctic into a zone of harsh confrontation.

"The Americans' actions on icebreakers confirm the excellent prospects of the Northern Sea Route. I do not rule out the possibility that after the icebreakers are built, the United States, together with Russia, will want to run convoys of continer ships and tankers of goods from China to Europe and make a profit from it," Ordukhanyan concludes.