“This planned agreement reflects the increased need for regular maritime patrols to monitor Russian submarine operations and deployments past the G-I-U.K. [Greenland-Iceland-U.K.] gap and coming out of the Baltic Sea,” said Bryan Clark, a naval analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
“With Norway and the UK both buying P-8As, the agreement should enable the three countries to share airfields, maintenance facilities, and equipment in the UK, Norway, and Iceland (which is a U.S.-leased facility). This is important to ensure NATO P-8As can cover the whole set of chokepoints from Greenland to Denmark that Russian submarines would need to pass through.”