The US Navy’s newest supercarrier spent much of late August and early September operating in the strategically critical “Bear Gap” in the Arctic Circle.

On Monday, NATO kicked off its Neptune Strike 25-3 large-scale multinational exercises that span the Mediterranean, Adriatic, North, and Baltic Seas. More than 10,000 sailors, soldiers, aviators, and marines from 13 alliance nations are now participating in this third iteration of the drills, designed to enhance the partnership among NATO members.

“The Neptune Strike series is designed to demonstrate NATO’s ability to integrate high-end maritime strike capabilities, strengthen deterrence, and ensure freedom of navigation across critical waterways,” NATO announced in a press release this week. “It also aims to secure strategic maritime chokepoints while testing interoperability across air, land, and sea.”

Planned exercises have included amphibious landings in Italy, submarine patrols, and even “mass casualty” drills to enable the forces to prepare for the worst-case scenarios.

NATO has been carrying out the Neptune Strike series of exercises since 2020.

Multiple Flattops Are Participating in the Neptune Strike Exercises

Neptune Strike 25-3 is unique from past training drills, in that multiple large surface combatants are taking part. These include the Italian Navy landing ship ITS San Giorgio (L9892), the Turkish Navy’s drone-carrying amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu (L-400), the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet flagship Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), and the nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).

In the North Sea, the Ford will lead a coalition of international warships, including frigates from Denmark and France, which will join the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class Aegis combat system guided-missile destroyer, USS Mahan (DDG-72), and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81). According to the UK Defence Journal, the American supercarrier, which departed Naval Station Norfolk for its latest deployment in late June, has been “acting as the centerpiece of NATO’s deterrent posture.”

NATO Carriers Are Running the “Bear Gap”

The US Navy’s newest supercarrier spent much of late August and early September operating in the strategically critical “Bear Gap,” the maritime area in the Arctic Circle between North Cape, Norway, and the Svalbard archipelago, specifically including Bear Island. That gap remains a critical transit zone, where the shallow Barents Sea meets the deeper Norwegian Sea.

Naval analysts note that the waterway serves as the primary route for the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet, based at Severomorsk, to access the North Atlantic Ocean. The US Navy has described the High North as being a “critical region” to the United States and NATO. Earlier this year, the Norwegian military began to restore multiple military bunkers in the High North that were first built during the Cold War.

The deployment of the most capable US Navy aircraft carrier to the gap further highlights its significance.

“What we’re doing is a building block on the last three years of our US Carrier Strike Groups’ work off the coast of Norway and in the High North Seas with the Royal Norwegian Navy. This consistent teamwork has fostered a strong and enduring relationship between our two navies,” Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, commander of Carrier Strike Group Twelve, led by CVN-78, earlier this month. “Our mutual understanding of each other’s naval priorities, perspectives, and methods ensures efficient and effective work whenever we operate together. We are extremely fortunate to continue to build on this steadfast US-Norwegian naval relationship to defend against threats to maritime security.”

The official social media accounts of the USS Gerald R. Ford shared a series of clips of drills and activities carried out in Bear Gap.

Neptune Strike 2025-3 concludes on Friday.