Nato scrambles for drones that can survive the Arctic

COPENHAGEN: In 2023, Mads Petersen, owner of Greenland-based startup Arctic Unmanned, sat in a car to keep warm while he tested a small drone at minus 43 degrees Celsius. The cold soon drained the drone’s power.

“The battery only lasted for three minutes,” he said.

Governments in the world’s far north are seeking to overcome such challenges as the region comes increasingly into the geopolitical spotlight.

Russia and China have stepped up military activity in the Arctic, while Nato states in the region are reporting more acts of sabotage on energy and communications lines. President Donald Trump has recently revived US claims to Greenland.

The conflict in Ukraine, meanwhile, has shown that unmanned aircraft can provide critical intelligence and strike capabilities on the battlefield.

The United States, which sees the Arctic as crucial for territorial defence and its early warning system against nuclear attacks, said in a July strategy document it would focus on unmanned technology to counter Chinese-Russian collaboration there. Russian and Chinese bomber planes flew together off the coast of Alaska in July and their coast guard ships sailed together through the Bering Strait in October.

But drones - whether multicopters or fixed wing models - are vulnerable. Only the largest, long-range models have enough power for anti-icing systems like those used by aircraft. Cold, fog, rain or snow can cause a malfunction or crash.