Operation Atlantic City ushers Marines on rare trip to ... remote Arctic island

U.S. Marines participated in a “first-of-its-kind mission” in the remote Arctic this summer meant to test their ability to work with Norwegian and British troops in harsh conditions, the service said.

The operation — on the far-flung and strategically valuable island of Jan Mayen, Norway — reflects NATO’s increasing focus on the Arctic, where the alliance is worried about Russia’s ability to project power and disrupt critical infrastructure. The exercise also gave Marines a chance to practice defending “key maritime terrain” with tactics they refined in the Pacific.

Dubbed Operation Atlantic City, a reference to a WWII-era U.S. base on Jan Mayen, the Norwegian-led exercise ran from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4 and marked the first instance of “rapid insertion of military assets to remote and austere location,” the Marine Corps said.

A news release described the exercise as focused on developing expeditionary advanced basing capabilities and on testing participants’ ability to conduct combined fires missions, provide maritime domain awareness and deny adversaries the use of nearby sea lanes. It was a demonstration of the militaries’ ability to “integrate multinational sensors, command-and-control nodes, and precision fires into a unified, joint kill web.”

Training with weapons that could challenge enemy air and naval movements appeared to be a major element.

At the start of the exercise, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transported a U.S. Navy Containerized Launching System — a 40-foot container with four launch cells for anti-air and anti-ship missiles — to Trondheim in central Norway in a strategic airlift mission to demonstrate “rapid projection of joint logistics and interoperable communication assets.”

U.S. and British cargo aircraft also transported vehicles and equipment — including U.S. Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a Norwegian National Maneuver Air Defense System, and an Australian Strikemaster anti-ship-missile system operated by Marines — to Jan Mayen as part of the rapid-insertion training.

The vehicles were moved around the island to test troops’ ability to position and protect assets on rough and contested territory. Those platforms were also employed to relay targeting data and communications as part of what the Corps calls “a resilient kill web” comprising dispersed weapons and command-and-control nodes. Other drills, like the delivery of medical supplies using an aerial drone, underscored the exercise’s expeditionary focus.

Holding ‘key maritime terrain’ at risk

A mountainous island 620 miles from mainland Norway with an active volcano and partially covered by glaciers, Jan Mayen is uninhabited except for a few dozen Norwegian military personnel and Norwegian Meteorological Institute staff.

But it is a strategic outpost in waters “vital to NATO in terms of securing international sea lines of communication and transatlantic supply routes,” a Norwegian official said after Operation Atlantic City 2025.

The 2025 version of the exercise was the first time Marines operated on Jan Mayen, according to Lt. Col. Kurt Stahl, communications director for US Marine Corps Forces Europe. That came after an apparent lull in U.S. activity there since late 2019, when airmen visited to do an airfield assessment.

This year’s Atlantic City was “quite significant” because it was the second consecutive year Marines ventured to the island, Stahl added.

Jan Mayen provides a “true austere island location” where Marines can train on inhospitable but important terrain, said Lt. Col. David Palacio, fires officer for Marine Corps Forces Europe.

“This year it was absolutely an integrated force, whether that was in targeting, intelligence, communications, also medical capabilities, which will be a concern in any type of austere and isolated environment like this,” Palacio said in a video released after the exercise, adding that troops were “really integrating significantly more than last year.”

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Joel Murcek tests communications with a Strikemaster missile system on Jan Mayen Island, Norway, on Aug. 31, 2026. (Sgt. Noah Masog/U.S. Marine Corps)

Atlantic City 2026’s content and location were reminiscent of Marine Corps exercises with allies in the Western Pacific.

Over the past several years, Marines have deployed to Philippine and Japanese islands with sensors and weapons — notably the NMESIS anti-ship missile — that would allow them to monitor and control sea lanes and airspace around Taiwan that China would need to use in a conflict.

Atlantic City 2026 was meant to ensure Marines in Europe could do similar tasks.

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle delivered to the island on a British cargo plane “was really being used as a surrogate for” NMESIS, Palacio said in another video. “So we were validating that this vehicle can fit on this aircraft and can be delivered rapidly to this location, which we did flawlessly.”

The message of Atlantic City 2026 was also similar to that of the exercises on Japan’s southwest islands and in the northern Philippines: “It’s important for the adversary to know that, ‘Hey, this is a thing out here as well, too, so you’re not going to get sanctuary in areas that you thought,’” Palacio said. “‘That key maritime terrain that you thought you could just bypass? You now have to understand that you’re being held at risk.’”

Approaching Russia’s ‘bastion’

Atlantic City 2026 also reflects NATO’s shift toward the Arctic.

The exercise ran concurrently with Northern Viking, a NATO exercise focused on defending Iceland and sea lanes between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK — a chokepoint known as the GIUK Gap — and was part of NATO’s new Arctic Sentry initiative, which is a response to “Russia’s increasing military activity and China’s growing interest in the Arctic,” the alliance said.

“Over the last three, four, five years, allied activity in the Arctic has more than doubled, so there’s a lot of interest in the Arctic,” Maj. Gen. Øivind Gunnerud, chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, said during an event at Norway’s embassy in Washington, D.C., in mid-September.

Russia “is the most important military factor shaping our planning in the High North. It retains strategic, significant capabilities close to Norway,” including the powerful Northern Fleet, long-range aviation forces and advanced air and missile systems, Gunnerud said.

NATO also has growing concerns about Moscow’s ability to disrupt critical infrastructure, particularly undersea data cables, in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

NATO used the GIUK Gap as a vantage point to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War, and Moscow’s investment in its submarine force over the past two decades has given the chokepoint new relevance, but the interest in Jan Mayen is a sign that the alliance’s focus is moving farther north — closer to the Barents Sea, a “bastion” from which Russian subs could potentially strike targets in Europe with conventional and nuclear-armed missiles.

Norwegian Home Guard soldiers escort U.S. Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicles during a tactical displacement in Jan Mayen, Norway, on Aug. 30, 2026. (Sgt. Noah Masog/U.S. Marine Corps)

Norway has led the way amid NATO’s shift to the north.

In the coming years, the country will field new coast guard vessels designed for the Arctic, as well as new frigates and submarines. Paired with P-8 patrol planes that are already “flying constantly,” those ships will help in the “cat-and-mouse game up there to keep track of the submarines,” Gunnerud said.

Norway is also investing more in Jan Mayen. Even before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Oslo invited allies to visit the island, and since then it has made plans to bolster its military posture and authority on the island. A planned undersea-cable project will also improve connectivity with mainland Norway.

“Norway has unquestionably escalated” its presence on and funding to Jan Mayen, wrote Klaus Dodds and Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, professors and Arctic security experts, in a recent report for the Royal United Services Institute.

“This was in part brought about in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and it has seen a distinct change in the character of presence on the island,” they added. “From its long-standing duties as a meteorological outpost, it is now a crucial site of Norwegian security activity.”

美国海军陆战队表示，今年夏天，他们参与了在偏远的北极地区执行的“史无前例的任务”，旨在测试他们在恶劣条件下与挪威和英国军队合作的能力。

此次行动在挪威偏远且具有重要战略意义的扬马延岛举行，反映出北约日益重视北极地区。北约担忧俄罗​​斯在该地区投射力量和破坏关键基础设施的能力。此次演习也让海军陆战队员有机会运用他们在太平洋战场上磨练出的战术，演练如何保卫“关键海上区域”。

海军陆战队表示，此次由挪威主导的演习被命名为“大西洋城行动”，指的是二战时期美国在扬马延岛上的一个基地。演习从 8 月 26 日持续到 9 月 4 日，标志着“军事力量首次快速部署到偏远艰苦的地区”。

新闻稿称，此次演习的重点是发展远征前沿基地能力，并测试参演人员执行联合火力任务、提供海上态势感知以及阻止敌方使用附近海域的能力。演习旨在展示各国军队“将多国传感器、指挥控制节点和精确火力整合到一个统一的联合杀伤网络中”的能力。

使用能够对敌方空中和海上行动构成挑战的武器进行训练似乎是一个重要环节。

演习开始时，一架美国空军 C-17 运输机将一套美国海军集装箱式发射系统（一个 40 英尺的集装箱，内含四个防空和反舰导弹发射单元）运送到挪威中部的特隆赫姆，执行战略空运任务，以展示“联合后勤和互操作通信资产的快速投送”。

作为快速部署训练的一部分，美国和英国的运输机还将车辆和装备（包括美国联合轻型战术车辆、挪威国家机动防空系统和由海军陆战队操作的澳大利亚“打击大师”反舰导弹系统）运送到扬马延岛。

这些车辆在岛上四处移动，旨在测试部队在崎岖不平且竞争激烈的地形上部署和保护资产的能力。这些平台还被用于传递目标数据和通信信息，这是海军陆战队所称的“弹性杀伤网”的一部分，该杀伤网由分散的武器和指挥控制节点组成。其他演练，例如使用无人机运送医疗物资，则凸显了此次演习的远征作战重点。

控制“关键海域”面临风险

扬马延岛是一个多山的岛屿，距离挪威大陆 620 英里，岛上有一座活火山，部分地区被冰川覆盖。除了几十名挪威军人和挪威气象研究所的工作人员外，岛上无人居住。

一位挪威官员在“大西洋城 2025 行动”后表示，这是一个战略前哨，位于“对北约至关重要的水域，可以保障国际海上交通线和跨大西洋补给线”。

据美国海军陆战队驻欧洲部队通信主管库尔特·斯塔尔中校称，2025年的演习是海军陆战队首次在扬马延岛开展行动。此前，自2019年底空军人员到访该岛进行机场评估以来，美军在该岛的活动似乎有所减少。

斯塔尔补充说，今年的大西洋城之行“意义非凡”，因为这是海军陆战队连续第二年前往该岛。

驻欧洲海军陆战队火力官大卫·帕拉西奥中校表示，扬马延岛是一个“真正的艰苦岛屿”，海军陆战队员可以在那里进行艰苦但重要的地形训练。

帕拉西奥在演习结束后发布的一段视频中表示：“今年这支部队绝对是一体化的，无论是在目标定位、情报、通信，还是医疗能力方面，这在任何类型的艰苦和孤立的环境中都是一个令人担忧的问题。”他还补充说，部队的“一体化程度比去年要高得多”。

2026年8月31日，美国海军陆战队中尉乔尔·穆尔切克在挪威扬马延岛测试“打击大师”导弹系统的通信。（美国海军陆战队中士诺亚·马索格摄）

2026 年大西洋城演习的内容和地点让人联想到美国海军陆战队与西太平洋盟友举行的演习。

过去几年，海军陆战队已向菲律宾和日本岛屿部署了传感器和武器——特别是NMESIS反舰导弹——这些装备将使他们能够监视和控制中国在冲突中可能需要使用的台湾周边海域和空域。

大西洋城 2026 演习旨在确保驻扎在欧洲的海军陆战队员能够执行类似任务。

帕拉西奥在另一段视频中表示，由英国货机运送到岛上的联合轻型战术车辆“实际上是作为NMESIS的替代品”。“所以我们当时正在验证这辆车是否可以装上这架飞机，并能快速运送到指定地点，而我们完美地完成了这项任务。”

“大西洋城2026”演习传达的信息与在日本西南岛屿和菲律宾北部举行的演习类似：“重要的是让对手明白，‘嘿，这里也一样，所以你们不能再像以前那样在那些地方寻求庇护了，’”帕拉西奥说。“‘你们以为可以绕过的关键海域？现在你们必须明白，你们正处于危险之中。’”

逼近俄罗斯的“堡垒”

2026 年大西洋城奥运会也反映了北约向北极地区的转移。

此次演习与北约的“北方维京”演习同时进行，该演习的重点是保卫冰岛以及格陵兰岛、冰岛和英国之间的海上航道——这一被称为“GIUK 海峡”的咽喉要道——并且是北约新的“北极哨兵”计划的一部分，该计划是为了应对“俄罗斯日益增长的军事活动和中国对北极日益增长的兴趣”，北约表示。

“在过去的三、四、五年里，盟军在北极的活动增加了一倍多，因此人们对北极非常感兴趣，”挪威皇家空军司令 Øivind Gunnerud 少将在 9 月中旬于挪威驻华盛顿大使馆举行的一次活动上说道。

贡内鲁德表示，俄罗斯“是影响我们在高北地区规划的最重要军事因素。它在挪威附近拥有重要的战略能力”，包括强大的北方舰队、远程航空兵以及先进的空中和导弹系统。

北约也越来越担心莫斯科有能力破坏北极和北大西洋的关键基础设施，特别是海底数据电缆。

冷战期间，北约曾利用 GIUK 海峡作为追踪苏联潜艇的有利位置。过去二十年来，莫斯科对其潜艇部队的投资使这一咽喉要道重新焕发活力。但对扬马延岛的关注表明，北约的重心正在向更北的地方转移——靠近巴伦支海，那里是俄罗斯潜艇可能用常规导弹和核导弹打击欧洲目标的“堡垒”。

2026年8月30日，在挪威扬马延岛，挪威国民警卫队士兵护送美国海军陆战队联合轻型战术车辆进行战术部署。（美国海军陆战队中士诺亚·马索格摄）

在北约北移的过程中，挪威一直走在前列。

未来几年，该国将部署专为北极地区设计的新型海岸警卫队舰艇，以及新型护卫舰和潜艇。贡纳鲁德表示，这些舰艇将与已经“持续飞行”的P-8巡逻机配合使用，有助于在北极地区展开“猫捉老鼠的游戏”，追踪潜艇踪迹。

挪威也在加大对扬马延岛的投资。早在2022年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之前，奥斯陆就邀请盟友访问该岛，此后，挪威制定了加强其在该岛军事部署和控制的计划。一项计划中的海底电缆项目也将改善该岛与挪威大陆的互联互通。

克劳斯·多兹和卡罗琳·肯尼迪-派普教授（同时也是北极安全专家）在最近为皇家联合军种研究所撰写的一份报告中写道：“挪威无疑已经加强了”其在扬马延岛的存在和资金投入。

他们补充说：“这在一定程度上是对2022年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的回应，也使得岛上的存在性质发生了显著变化。该岛长期以来一直是一个气象站，如今已成为挪威安全活动的关键地点。”