Airborne Maritime Surveillance in the North Atlantic: Norwegian and Allied Patrols, 1945 to the Present-Day

254 pages

Dr James Bosbotinis

Having a long-standing interest in maritime airpower, and the Russian Navy, the subject of this book immediately appealed to this reviewer. Airborne Maritime Surveillance in the North Atlantic seeks to “highlight the debate and provide an unclassified framework to discuss the requirements for airborne intelligence collection in the maritime domain…” as well as examining “the place of submarines in Soviet and later Russian naval strategy and naval operations.” The author, John O. Birkeland, is well-placed to provide such analysis. He is a Colonel in the Royal Norwegian Air Force (including maritime patrol aircraft experience), is Branch Head of Curriculum Planning at the NATO Defence College, and holds a PhD in military science from the University of Glasgow. The author’s professional knowledge and depth of experience is highlighted throughout the text.

Across 10 chapters, the author sets out to provide both an historical account of Norwegian and Allied maritime air operations over the North Atlantic, particularly the High North, throughout the Cold War to the present day, and the evolution of Soviet and Russian naval, particularly submarine, capabilities. This is set within the context of a broader examination of the development of and requirements for airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, with the first two chapters covering ‘A Short History of Airborne ISR’ and ‘Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance: Framing the Discussion’. Birkeland ably covers the evolving requirements for airborne ISR and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) through the Cold War, and into the post-Cold War environment, including the shift toward overland airborne ISR in support of the War on Terror and other expeditionary operations.

Chapter nine, ‘The Russian Submarine Threat of the Future’, is particularly interesting. It focuses on the resurgent Russian threat, encompassing its evolving naval roles, order of battle and operations, including the development of a strategic strike capability centred on the Kalibr family of missiles, and maritime hybrid warfare. The author highlights that operating north of the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, a Yasen/Yasen-M-class SSGN “will still be able to hold all of Northern Europe’s main ports at risk, as well as many of the important airfields used for logistics…it seems likely that the modern approach to the SLOC mission is to hold NATO sea ports at risk, as opposed to patrolling the actual SLOCs at sea.” There are a few areas of the analysis which are rather dated: for example, on p185, the author discusses long-term submarine force developments, including referring to the Husky-class, which was intended as a next-generation nuclear-powered attack boat, but its status has been uncertain for some time now. Similarly, on p186, the author refers to the Kalina-class, which was reported to be a next-generation SSK.

Russian planning (some of which has only emerged since the publication of this book) is now focused on replacing the Oscar II, Sierra II, Akula, and Akula II-class boats with Yasen-Ms, and the construction of at least nine Lada-class diesel-electric boats. The discussion of the Tsirkon hypersonic missile is also somewhat dated, and notably, while the author discusses the employment of Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles against targets in Syria, no mention is made of the Russian Navy’s contribution to missile attacks on Ukraine. There are also a handful of minor typos, but they do not detract from the quality of the analysis. The final chapter, ‘The Future of Airborne ISR in the High North’, also deserves particular mention, discussing the requirements for ASW into the future, including the role of artificial intelligence, and crewed-uncrewed teaming.

 Airborne Maritime Surveillance in the North Atlantic provides valuable analysis which will appeal to historians and strategists alike. The price of the book however warrants mention; the hardback edition is priced at £171.99. Fortunately, a digital edition is available at £40.79, and a paperback edition will be published in October 2026. The latter two editions are certainly recommended.