The Department of Defense (DoD) has entered into an agreement with six allied counterparts to conduct research into the environmental conditions of the Earth’s polar regions, C4ISRnet reported Sunday.
The DOD will work with the governments of New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to study the Arctic and the regions south of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans as part of the International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR) program.
ICE-PPR comes as part of the U.S. Navy’s efforts to survey the Arctic landscape to potentially gain an advantage over Russia and China.
The memorandum of understanding, signed in November, tasks the group to conduct environmental observations and modeling as part of initial research activities. The group will also facilitate exchanges and study underwater phenomena as well as human factors as part of ICE-PPR.
“ICE-PPR is unique from NATO working groups and other activities in that the goal is for project work, not just information exchanges,” noted John Woods, deputy director of the Office of Naval Research Global's International Engagement Office.
The agreement will expire in 25 years.
