European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Arctic Tundra echoes Thunder of Canadian military buildup by John f. Burns new York times Ore than four centuries alter the English adventurer sir Martin Frobisher found what is known now Frobisher Bay in the Northwest territories new intruders Are disturbing the Arctic peace. The Canadian air Force has been rattling the tin roofs of Eskimo Homes lately with he first sorties that its Cf-18 fighters have flown in the far North. The aircraft land based versions of the . Navy s supersonic hornets flew from the windblown airstrips that the . Army built there in world War ii. Six aircraft from the base at Bagotville Quebec 1,000 Miles to the South joined american and British fighters recently in the largest airborne combat exercise Ever mounted in the Canadian North. Two of the Canadian fighters accompanied by an airborne Tanker flew a 3,900-mile round trip to the North pole finishing eventually with a Victory Roll Over a fiord on Baffin Bay. Attar two decades As a strategic Backwater Canada s vast Northern regions a million Square Miles of Rocky Flatland and Snow swept Tundra Are alive with military activity again. A Region that was Busy with transit flights in world War ii and again in the 1950s, before ballistic missiles downgraded the importance of bomber routes across the pole has once More come into its own. Militarily the shift resulted from the deployment of Low flying cruise missiles that have Given new roles to soviet Bear and backfire bombers and to the Polar routes they Fly. In addition naval strategists on both sides have been increasingly drawn to the Arctic Ocean As a place where missile firing submarines and the undersea attack vessels that Hunt them can approach their targets with maximum stealth. In Canada the new attention to the Arctic is not a strategic matter alone. The government of prime minister Brian Mulroney combining military and political objectives has decided on a land air and sea buildup to reinforce its claim to sovereignty Over Lens of thousands of Square Miles of Arctic Ocean. In the most dramatic expression of the new policy the government announced in june that it will buy Between 10 and 12 nuclear powered submarines. In addition to making Canada a member of the tiny club of nations that compete in the most modern form of undersea warfare the submarines will prowl disputed passages in a bid to assert Canadian control. At the same time Canada is upgrading five Arctic airfields for use by fighters stepping up electronic reconnaissance flights by anti submarine planes and taking part with the United states in a $5 billion modernization of Dew line the Distant Early warning line Chain of radar stations that has guarded against russian bomber attacks on North America since the 1950s. For Ottawa which had shown Little enthusiasm for military matters for two decades the 15-year buildup is a major change. To emphasize the shift and to draw attention to its efforts to reinforce Canadian sovereignty the government invited a group of Canadian and american reporters on a 6,000-mile tour on military facilities in the North last month. Travelling aboard an air Force Turboprop the reporters were taken into an underground command Complex at North Bay Ontario. In the Arctic they met Cf-18 pilots from the Squadron that flew a North pole Mission toured an Early warning station on Baffin Island and flew hours across the ice and Tundra to fort Eureka a dust blown Canadian army weather and mapping Post 700 Miles from the North pole. Accompanying the group was the defense minister Penn Beally who describes himself As the most pro american defense minister Canada has had since world War ii. He spoke during the journey of Canada s determination to abandon past neglect and Bear a fair share of the Burden in the continent s defense. But he also underscored the government s insistent counterpoint that Canada will persist with its demand that the United states acknowledge Canadian sovereignty throughout the Arctic archipelago including the ice bound Ocean channels that Snake Between the Northern islands. For years Canadian governments have suspected that . Nuclear submarines navigate the channels without informing Ottawa. Although the two countries Are formally Allied information on the movements of american submarines is divulged Only on a need to know basis. According to Canadian officials this has meant that the presence of a . Submarine in the Canadian archipelago might be communicated to Britain which also operates nuclear submarines in the Arctic but not to Canada. When a British submarine and two american vessels made a rendezvous at the North pole in june Canadian officials were left to speculate whether their courses had led them through Waters claimed by Canada. It is a position that arouses Strong feelings. As the Turboprop flew Over Lancaster sound a Broad Channel that is part of the Northwest passage Beatty looked Down at the Turquoise ice that covers much of the passage even in july. The Point is if there s a foreign submarine Down there right now we Don t know about it the 37-year-old minister said. When we have our own submarines Well be in a better position to find  across the Arctic rumours of submarine movements abound. At a government club in Resolute on the Northern Shore of the Northwest passage residents regaled Beatty with tales of submarine sightings. An Engineer said that he had met eskimos who told him of an incident in 1977 when they saw a conning Tower marked with a red Star poking through the ice on Baffin Bay. Others who gathered around said that Eskimo Hunters farther North where Baffin Bay Narrows to a Strait leading to the Arctic Ocean had told of hearing engine noises beneath the ice still others said that they had heard of frogman in wet suits emerging from the water then re submerging without a boat in sight. Canada will deploy its first nuclear submarine the Only kind capable of extended operation beneath the ice in 1996, and then Only if the present government is re elected. Both opposition parties have criticized the plan and they have been joined by leaders of the 25,000 eskimos. Critics say the $4 billion . Cost of the vessel is too High others argue that the government will put Eskimo lives at risk. In the meantime the Canadian government will use every Opportunity to remind the world that the Arctic archipelago is Canada s. At Alpert on the country s nothern most tip Canada maintains a military base. But it is paid for and staffed mainly by americans who have imposed Blanket secrecy. Outsiders Are banned from the area but Canadian newspapers have suggested that the base communicates with . Submarines and tracks their soviet counterparts. When asked about the base Beatty Only smiles. But he has set out to Canad Anize other military operations in the North As much As possible. Most Canadian flights across the North including those by the Cf-18s to the North pole Are described As sovereignty  it feels Good to be doing something for Canadian sovereignty capt. Peter Lang Wing Leader in a Cf-18 Squadron said As he prepared to strap himself into his fighter at the Frobisher Bay Airfield. Lang 31 years old made a Mark Early this year by intercepting four soviet Bear reconnaissance aircraft off Canada s East coast in two sorties flown in five hours. At Cape dyre on Baffin Bay Canadian officers who oversee the work of a Dew line radar station drive to the installation from a base Camp in us air Force pickups. The station is one of a dozen in Canada that Are scheduled to be modernized under a 1985 agreement to build a new radar Chain called the North warning system that would detect Low flying soviet bombers and missiles. When the work is  year the base will come under Canadian operational control sunday August 2, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17