Geopolitics of the GIUK Gap: A New Age of A2/AD in Contested Strategic Maritime Spaces

The GIUK Gap, stretching between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, has long been a critical maritime chokepoint. Although the GIUK Gap has become a strategic symbol of NATO’s efforts to contain the ‘Soviet Union’ and its main successor, the Russian Federation, at sea, the Gap has an intertwined history and long-standing influence over British strategic thinking. A2/AD: Social antiaccess/area-denial  describes the threat posed to U.S. and Western security by sociopolitical and socioeconomic means, primarily by China and Russia. The global strategic environment is ripe for technology-driven great power competition once more. Russia’s war in Ukraine and pursuit of novel…