The U.S. military is working to increase its presence on Greenland, including adding special operations forces and potentially operating in three new areas on the island, the head of U.S. Northern Command said this week.
The United States is currently in talks with Denmark and Greenland over a wider American military presence on the island, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot told senators earlier this week. Stars & Stripes first reported on Guillot’s remarks regarding expanding U.S. infrastructure in Greenland.
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Guillot, along with his counterpart from U.S. Southern Command, addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 19, discussing a range of topics including drone incursions, the military raid in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and Arctic strategy. A major part of the testimony was a discussion of the United States’ strategy in the Arctic. Guillot said that a big part of that plan is to get “more ports, more airfields” across the region, in areas such as Alaska, Canada and Greenland.
The United States military currently operates one base in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base. The installation has been a part of military operations for decades, when previously known as Thuule Air Force Base.
With Greenland specifically, the military and State Department are talking with Danish and Greenlandic in hopes of getting a “permanent presence” of additional maritime assets, Guillot said. Additionally, the military wants to “see if we could expand the defense areas from Pituffik, where we are now, into these other areas which would help our homeland defense mission.” That would be in three areas on the island, although he did not specify where they are, except that it would be in contrast to Pituffik’s northern location.
“What we have now is access to Pituffik Air Base, which is at the northern part of Greenland, which gives us some of the fighter and tanker capability and a lot of space capability, but we don’t have a permanent presence for [special operation forces] and then we don’t have a permanent presence for some of the maritime capabilities that I need,” Guillot told senators.
According to the general, the matter is being discussed under the 1951 defense agreement the United States has with Denmark. Guillot said that Denmark, which controls Greenland, has been “very, very supportive.”
His remarks on Greenland just two months after tensions over the large island peaked. President Donald Trump had repeatedly stated his intent for the United States to acquire Greenland, possibly by the use of force. In January, allied nations deployed troops to Greenland, including forces from Germany, France and the Netherlands, on a “reconnaissance mission” in support of Denmark. According to a new report this week from Danish public broadcaster DR, Danish forces were deployed fully prepared for an armed conflict with American forces over the island. They brought in blood bags to treat potentially wounded people as well as explosives intended to blow up runways at two locations, including the capital of Nuuk. The goal, DR said, was to deny American planes access to the island.
Alongside seeking to expand American presence on Greenland, NORTHCOM is also working to repair and update infrastructure at Pituffik. According to NORTHCOM, the decades-old installation has suffered “accelerated wear and tear” due to the hard conditions of the Arctic. In January, a solicitation for bids posted to SAM.gov revealed that the Pentagon wanted to expand and modernize the base’s runway. Other plans included getting a new “special service vessel” for patrolling the coast near the base’s port.
