North Pole flyover a first for Coast Guard

North Pole flyover a first for Coast Guard
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 25, 2007 19:06:03 EDT

The Coast Guard conducted its first-ever flight over the North Pole on Thursday, part of a growing effort to expand operations in the Arctic region.

An HC-130 Hercules took off from Barrow, Alaska, at 8:30 a.m. for what was expected to be an eight-hour round trip. The aircraft, assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, was to travel 1,183 miles to explore the changing environment and observe maritime activity.

“The northern reaches of the Arctic is a new area for us to do surveillance,” Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, 17th Coast Guard District commander, said in a release Thursday.

“We are expanding our patrols because we are seeing increased activity in the region and we need to know what is going on up there,” he said.

The flight comes as other nations have stepped up exploration and movement throughout the region. In August, Russia planted a flag in the seabed below the pole in an attempt to lay territorial claim to it. Denmark, Canada and Norway also have asserted sovereignty in the region.

The region north of the Arctic Circle contains more than 2,500 miles of U.S. shoreline. It also is thought to hold 25 percent of the world’s energy reserves.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/coastguard_arcticflight_071025w/



uhc comment: You can bet we'll be hearing lots more about Arctic operations.