The House Article | The High North: Why Britain’s Commandos Are Central to Our Security

(UK MoD)

4 min read8 min

The strong cross-party attendance spoke volumes. Phil Bricknell MP, Liz Saville Roberts MP, Vikki Slade MP, The Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle were just some of those who joined us to explore why this frozen frontier matters to Britain’s future. Their presence reflected growing parliamentary awareness that the High North is central to UK and Nato security, and how, as part of the Hybrid Royal Navy, the UK Commando Force is rising to meet that challenge.

Why the High North matters

For an island nation built on maritime trade, the Arctic and High North is vital. This is the only place where Russia, through its formidable Northern Fleet, can directly threaten the lifelines that sustain and protect us: food, energy, undersea data cables, and the sea lines of communication that connect the US to Europe.

It is the gateway to the Atlantic and the Northern Sea Route. And it is where Russia bases some of its most strategic military capabilities. Our national prosperity and defence depend directly on what happens here.

Climate change is accelerating competition. New sea routes are opening and military activity is increasing. As this environment becomes more contested and Russian aggression continues, the ability to defend and deter in the High North has become essential to wider Euro-Atlantic security.

Nato expects its leading members to bring credible capability and leadership to this region. Through our deep relationship with Norway, strengthened by the 2025 Lunna House Agreement and our longstanding leadership of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), the UK has longstanding experience here.

The Alliance and our allies want us to exert that leadership to strengthen deterrence and counter hybrid threats.

Rapid Modernisation

Five years into its transformation programme, the UK Commando Force is highly modernised, specialising in warfighting, crisis response and maritime special operations. Building on lessons from contemporary conflict, we integrate dispersed and highly trained commando teams with advanced targeting sensors, uncrewed systems, and electronic warfare to enable precision strikes, not least from Royal Navy platforms like the Carrier Strike Group. We practised exactly this with our allies during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE in Australia last summer.

We are a key element of the UK and Nato’s Special Operations Forces. Operating both on land and sea we’re conducting deterrence operations now and ready to respond rapidly in crisis and conflict to counter threats and set the tactical conditions for larger conventional forces to bring their strength to bear. For ministers, this provides something rare and invaluable: strategic flexibility, military optionality across the spectrum of competition to conflict, and affordability.

High Value and Affordable

Arctic warfighting readiness cannot be generated overnight. Operating at -30C, across frozen terrain, in conditions that degrade people and equipment requires years of specialist training. We are the only UK brigade capable of it and one of very few in Nato. It is a point of national comparative advantage.

The Commando Force’s persistent presence in the High North is greatly valued by the US and our regional allies. We are the tip of the spear for the First Sea Lord’s ATLANTIC BASTION, SHIELD and STRIKE operations – constructs which tie land, sea, air, space, and cyber capabilities together and put the UK at the centre of a sophisticated defence and system that allows allies to persistently work together. It is driving defence industrial cooperation, technological innovation, and opportunity for our economy. 

Ready now

We maintain a very high readiness posture, continuously tested through Arctic deployments and global crisis response tasks. The force deploys quickly, integrates seamlessly with allies, and operates independently when required.

Strategic Awareness

In an era of instability and acute power competition, our Westminster visit underscores Parliament’s recognition of the importance of the High North to both our defence and strategic interests. It is the gateway to our own backyard, and our partners welcome our leadership there. The UK Commando Force is rising to the challenge and in the past month alone, we have been visited in Norway by the Foreign and Defence Secretaries, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, and over thirty of the UK and Nato’s most senior military officers.

The ice may be shifting, but Britain’s commitment to the Arctic and delivering against Nato’s commitments there remains rock solid.

Brigadier Jaimie Norman DSO OBE Royal Marines, Commander 3 Commando Brigade