• Ocean-going countries are showing new interest in operating in the Arctic and Antarctic, as receding ice makes waters there more accessible.
• Icebreaking ships are vital for operations in those regions, but the US has fewer such ships than its neighbors in the area, including Russia.
• The US is pushing to build more icebreakers, but the threat of militarization has added wrinkles to those plans.

Receding ice in the Arctic and Antarctic has drawn the attention of the world's ocean-going powers, and the US military, led by the Coast Guard, has been pushing for more resources to catch up to other countries operating in those regions.

The Coast Guard's icebreaker fleet is the backbone of its operations around the North and South Poles, but that fleet is comparatively small. Of the three it has, only two are operational: the heavy icebreaker Polar Star and medium icebreaker Healy, which mainly does scientific work.

The Polar Star is charged with keeping navigation lanes open in the Arctic and Antarctic, but it was built in the mid-1970s and is already beyond its 30-year service life.

The Coast Guard's Pacific Area chief, Vice Adm. Fred Midgette, whose command ranges from the US West Coast to Asia and from the Arctic to the Antarctic, told CBS News this week that Russia is still outspending the US.

"If you look at what Russia is doing, there's almost a mini arms buildup going on in the Arctic," he said.

Finland has seven medium polar icebreakers, though four are designated for Baltic use. China has three, but all of them are light polar icebreakers. Canada has two operational medium polar icebreakers and two under construction, while Sweden has seven, though three are medium icebreakers designed for Baltic use.

The Coast Guard must be funded as a military service

"cannot continue to operate on the margins" of the defense budget.

The Coast Guard draws the vast majority of its funding from non-defense discretionary spending, Zukunft said, and the potential for a reduction in that pool of money in order to expand defense discretionary spending threatens to further hinder Coast Guard finances after five years of funding below floors set in the Budget Control Act.

"Our funding mechanism has got to change," he said. "The Coast Guard must be funded as a military service."

Zukunft said he was proposing was a 5% annualized increase in the service's operating expenditures, which "gets us out of the basement" and provides "parity with the four armed services."

The commandant also suggested a floor of $2 billion for the Coast Guard's acquisition budget.

"That would allow me to put icebreakers on budget within the United States Coast Guard," he said. "That 5% and $2 billion floor allows me to grow my workforce by 5,000 active-duty and 1,100 reserves, and at the same time I don't have to cut my equally valued civilian workforce. It's not a big ask."

Is it to create chaos in the Arctic?

commander of the Coast Guard's 17th district — which encompasses Alaska and the Arctic — has said the US is on good terms with its neighbors in the area, including Russia and China, with whom the US cooperates on waterway management, search and rescue, and law-enforcement matters.

But Washington has eyed Russian plans for its icebreakers warily.