Very cold war: Brutal Arctic conditions are testing US and allied forces

Militaries haven't clashed in the high north in generations, and defense planners are puzzling through what war there would look like

- Sune Engel Rasmussen

Elite combat troops shred their physiques to look like Hollywood hunks. In the Arctic, that can kill you.

The cold eats away at soldiers, who lose on average 3,000 calories a day while on exercises in the Arctic Circle—even while eating full rations and before they have taken part in any strenuous activity.

"The modern soldier goes to the gym, likes to look lean with washboard abs, so they don't have any fat on their muscles," said Swedish Army Sgt. Maj. Fredrik Flink, who leads winter-warfare courses for U.S. Marines and other forces in northern Sweden.

"After three days here, they are really worn down. That is the biggest problem we have," he said. "Basic things aren't sexy nowadays."

U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are flocking to the European Arctic, where international tensions are simmering. Militaries haven't clashed in the high north in generations, and defense planners are puzzling through what war there would look like.

It is ugly.

"We are writing the book as it happens, based on almost zero experience," said Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska. "This is a very strange set of circumstances."

The war in Ukraine has given the world a glimpse of future armed conflict. The Arctic is different. In Ukraine, killer drones swarm the skies and dominate the front line. In the Arctic, fuels freeze and batteries die suddenly. Drones in the high north run on jet fuel or diesel, and are equipped with deicing systems and robust propulsion to withstand Arctic winds. As a result, they are usually so large they need a trailer or a runway to launch.