US Aircraft Carrier Truman Trains With Norwegian Forces in the High North

Norsk versjon. 

The US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman is now sailing in Arctic waters – accompanied by the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen and the Italian frigate ITS Carabiniere.

This week, the aircraft carrier and its air wing are training together with the Norwegian Air Force in the airspace from Troms county, Northern Norway, to Trøndelag county, Central Norway. 

Specifically, US F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters operate together with Norwegian F-35 fighters from Ørland Air Station.

“We now get to practice with a formidable capacity. This demonstrates our allies’ ability and willingness to defend Norwegian areas of interest in the North,” says Colonel Ole Marius Tørrisplass, Commander of the 132nd Air Wing at Ørland Air Station.

This is USS Harry S. Truman's second visit to Norway's Arctic waters. The aircraft carrier also operated in the Vestfjorden during the NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2018, for which Norway was the host nation. 

In total, there have previously been five allied aircraft carriers visits to Northern Norway in recent years: HMS Prince of Wales (March 2024), HMS Queen Elizabeth (September 2023), USS Gerald R. Ford (May 2023), HMS Prince of Wales (March/April 2023) and USS Harry S. Truman (October 2018).

Arctic Advance Exercise 

This autumn’s naval exercise is also underway at sea, the Norwegian Armed Forces announced on Wednesday afternoon.

In the coming weeks, Norwegian, Danish, and British naval forces will exercise along the coast from Loppa, Western Finnmark, in the North to Bergen in the South. The majority of activities will take place in Northern Norway.

The USS Harry S. Truman has not been informed whether it will participate.

“This annual naval exercise provides us with a valuable rounding off of the year – where we improve operational capacity through purposeful capacity development and commanders' courses. The exercise has been named Arctic Advance to emphasize the importance of presence in the High North and our focus on increasing operational readiness," says the Chief of the Norwegian fleet, Commodore Kyrre Haugen.

In previous years, this naval exercise has been called Flotex. 

Restricted areas

This week, various areas in Northern Norway have been marked as restricted in the NOTAM map (Notices to Airmen) in connection with the military activity.

US submarine on patrol

The American nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Virginia (SSN-774) is also currently operating in the High North.

On Monday, it sailed into the fjord Malangen between the islands of Kvaløya and Senja in Troms county before heading north off the coast. This was visible on the Norwegian Mapping Authority’s AIS map, NAIS.

In Malangen, the submarine sailed into the fishing nets of a local fisherman and transported the nets with it two nautical miles north, reports NRK.

The US Naval Forces in Europe inform NRK that the incident occurred after a call at the Port of Grøtsund in Tromsø. The submarine received help in removing the entanglement from its escort, the Norwegian coast guard vessel KV Heimdal.

In the NOTAM map, the said port is marked as a restricted area until tonight, Thursday, 14 November. An average of eight allied submarines, the majority of which are American, call here each year

Russian military activity

Russian forces are also active in the North.

On Wednesday, fighters from the Russian Northern Fleet conducted a live-fire exercise with missiles at the Timur training range in the Barents Sea, writes the Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

On Tuesday, two Norwegian F-35 fighters identified two Tu-95 strategic bombers, and two Su-33 fighters were identified in international airspace over the western part of the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Joint Headquarters informs NRK. 

Last Friday, two Tu-95 strategic bombers, accompanied by MiG-31 fighters, also performed a flight over neutral waters in the Barents Sea, according to TASS.

The aforementioned bombers operate under Russia's long-range flight command, which is part of its strategic nuclear forces. Such aircraft regularly fly over neutral waters in the Arctic and the North Atlantic, among other regions, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

US destroyers in the Barents Sea 

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) includes the guided-missile destroyers USS Jason Dunham and USS Stout. 

On 21 October, the two destroyers carried out routine maritime operations in international waters in the Barents Sea while the aircraft carrier was operating in the North Sea. 

“Stout and Jason Dunham entered the Barents Sea to build the U.S. Navy’s situational awareness in the austere Arctic environment and underscore our commitment to preserving a free and open Arctic,” said Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, Commander of the HSTCSG.

The operations were also conducted to deter adversaries and practice campaigning in the Arctic, inform the US Naval Forces in Europe and point to the Pentagon’s new Arctic strategy. 

Reference is also made back to May 2020 when three US destroyers and a British frigate carried out a joint operations in the Barents Sea. At this time, US surface vessels had not operated in this area since the mid-1980s.

Last year, the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, likely carried out a similar patrol in the Barents Sea. The vessel was, in any case, operating off the coast of Finnmark before its position disappeared on the AIS map.