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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership with Canada and Finland to build nearly a dozen cutting-edge icebreaker ships to help defend the Arctic against rival powers such as China.

Noem signed a letter of intent on what’s been dubbed the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE Pact) alongside Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs Sakari Puisto at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“To thrive in the Arctic, we need icebreakers,” Noem said, adding that the ICE Pact will help power the economies of the three countries and strengthen the collective Arctic defense.

Noem called the Arctic “the world’s last, most wild frontier,” where the U.

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