Operation Atlantic City 26: A reminder that allied cooperation remains key to America’s security

Last week, while much of the US military’s attention remained focused on the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, thousands of kilometers to the north, American forces were participating in another important operation.

US Marines joined British and Norwegian forces for “Operation Atlantic City 26” on Jan Mayen, a remote island in the Norwegian Sea, about 1,000 kilometers from mainland Norway. The volcanic island, about the same size as the Gaza Strip, has no permanent population. But at any given time about a dozen Norwegian military and civilian personnel are stationed there.

Yet Jan Mayen has outsized strategic importance for NATO because of its location along the maritime approaches connecting the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic.

Atlantic City 26 was more than simply another Arctic exercise. It demonstrated what allies can accomplish when their capabilities are combined. Before deploying, US Marines drew equipment and munitions from the Marine Corps’ prepositioned subterranean storage facilities in Norway. A British Royal Air Force A400M carried the Marines, Royal Marines, their vehicles and equipment from mainland Norway to the island. Among the systems transported to Jan Mayen was an advanced mobile anti-ship missile system; not a coincidence considering the island’s important maritime location. Meanwhile, Norwegian Home Guard troops provided local security.

Together, the allies rehearsed rapid-reinforcement, maritime-surveillance, air-defense and sea-denial operations that could be required during a crisis in the High North.

Done responsibly, Arctic development can strengthen US energy security
Luke Coffey

Due to the proximity of the island to the Arctic, a joint military operation on Jan Mayen is particularly noteworthy, especially in the current political climate across the Atlantic.

Three observations stand out. Firstly, the multinational nature of the exercise showed that allied military cooperation can continue even when political relations are strained. President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that the US should control Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, have generated serious friction with European allies.

Against this backdrop, US military activity in the Arctic is inevitably viewed by some Europeans through the lens of the Greenland dispute. But this was not the case with Atlantic City 26. Whatever the political disagreements at the top, the practical foundations of transatlantic military cooperation remain substantial.

Secondly, Jan Mayen was not chosen to host the operation by accident. Its strategic importance dates back to the Second World War. In the winter of 1943, the US established a radio station on the island called “Atlantic City,” which explains the name given to this year’s operation. During the Cold War, Jan Mayen hosted NATO navigation facilities and sat astride strategically important waters used by Soviet naval forces moving between the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic.

Its importance declined when the Cold War ended, but American interest began to revive even before Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In November 2019, a US Air Force team surveyed the airfield on Jan Mayen to determine its suitability for transport aircraft and resupply missions. Since 2022, the island’s strategic relevance has only increased.

This is not merely a matter of Arctic or European security. Jan Mayen, together with Greenland, Iceland and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, forms part of a chain of strategically located islands protecting the northern approaches to North America. Strengthening the ability of forces to operate from Jan Mayen also fits, therefore, with Washington’s increased emphasis on homeland defense and Western Hemisphere security.

Thirdly, Atlantic City 26 demonstrated NATO’s growing institutional focus on the Arctic. The alliance has always had Arctic members but for years, many activities in the region were primarily organized nationally or among smaller groups of members. Norway, in particular, had long argued for greater NATO attention in the High North.

That process has accelerated since 2022. Finland and Sweden’s accession to the alliance, in 2023 and 2024, respectively, means seven of the eight Arctic states are now members. This year, NATO launched Arctic Sentry, an initiative designed to bring allied exercises, forces and capabilities across the region into a more coherent operational framework. Atlantic City 26 was one part of the broader allied effort under the Arctic Sentry umbrella.

The Greenland dispute has created diplomatic friction for US Arctic policy and transatlantic relations. At the same time, the Trump administration has taken several concrete steps to expand American capabilities in the region.

It has moved to increase oil and gas leasing, and streamline permitting, in Alaska. Done responsibly, Arctic development can strengthen US energy security. Washington has also embarked on a major expansion of the Coast Guard’s icebreaker fleet; under an agreement with Finland, some of America’s new Arctic Security Cutters will be built in Finnish shipyards, something that has never been done before. The first cutters to be delivered are expected to be sent to Alaska to enhance the US Arctic presence there.

The Pentagon is also investing in Arctic military infrastructure. The Air Force has identified almost $11 billion in proposed construction and modernization projects in Alaska next year, while Space Force continues to invest in capabilities at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.

And in August, after the dedicated diplomatic post had been vacant for 18 months, Trump nominated someone to be ambassador-at-large for the Arctic.

Taken together, Atlantic City 26 and these broader initiatives show that political disagreements over Greenland, while affecting transatlantic diplomacy, have not prevented the US and its allies from cooperating militarily in the High North.

As the Arctic becomes increasingly important to homeland defense, transatlantic security, energy, shipping and great-power competition, Jan Mayen is a reminder that geography and location still matter and that allied cooperation remains central to America’s security.