Canada wants 12 new submarines to bolster Arctic defense as NATO watches Russia and China move in

Canada plans to acquire a dozen new submarines capable of traveling under sea ice as part of efforts to bolster the defense of the country's vast Arctic coastal region, the Canadian defense ministry announced last week.

"A larger modernized submarine fleet will help us detect and deter threats on all three coasts and protect Canadians and Canadian interests," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week at the NATO summit in Washington.

Climate change has sped up the melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which is slowly opening up new shipping routes that Western powers worry adversaries could use for both economic and military purposes.