Denmark is promising significant upgrades to its defence posture on the island of Greenland, including the possibility of hosting Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters on the strategic Arctic territory.
Copenhagen is suggesting improvements to the airport at Kangerlussuaq that would allow the site to support operations by the advanced fifth-generation jets. The development was reported by Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR on 10 January.
The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) currently operates 17 F-35s out of a planned fleet of 27 aircraft. The latest batch of three newly built fighters arrived at Denmark’s Skrydstrup air base on 12 January, according to the Dutch ministry of defence.
The remaining six jets are stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona, where they are used to train Danish pilots and maintenance crews.
Source: Lockheed Martin
Denmark has received 17 of its planned 27 F-35A fighters, which 13 of the country’s NATO allies already operate or have plans to acquire
The proposed upgrades to Greenland’s defence infrastructure come as US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested he will seek to assert some level of American control over the island, which has been administered by Denmark since the early 19th Century.
“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump said at a 7 January press event in Florida.
The former president, who was re-elected to office in November, is to be sworn into his second presidential term on 20 January.
Strategically located in the high north, Greenland offers key terrain that can be used to monitor polar airspace, through which intercontinental ballistic missiles or military aircraft would likely travel to target North America. The island also sits abreast the long-sought Northwest Passage sea-lane connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which has become viable for passage by ship as warming global temperatures reduce Arctic sea ice cover.
Copenhagen is apparently seeking to assuage Trump’s security concerns about Greenland with what the BBC reports is a $1.5 billion defence spending package that would include upgrades to Kangerlussuaq, additional maritime patrol vessels and ground-based patrols travelling via dog sled.
A separate agreement from 2024 would spend some $400 million to outfit a fleet of uncrewed surveillance aircraft for monitoring the territory and seas around Greenland. The semi-autonomous territory currently has only a meagre Danish defence presence, including a solitary Bombardier Challenger 604 jet used for maritime patrol and search and rescue operations.
Source: Quintin Soloviev/Wikimedia Commons
The Danish government is proposing upgrades to Kangerlussuaq airport in western Greenland that would allow the airfield to host advanced F-35 stealth fighters
If Kangerlussuaq is approved to host F-35s, it would mark one of the most-significant improvements to Greenland’s security infrastructure in decades. Lockheed has delivered more than 1,000 examples of the single-engined fighter, with 14 of Denmark’s NATO allies signed on as F-35 operators, including the RDAF.
Although once robust, military operations in Greenland have shrunk dramatically since the end of the Cold War, when the island hosted nuclear-capable Convair B-36, Boeing B-47 and B-52 strategic bombers, Northrop F-89 Scorpion jet interceptors and a network of ground-based early warning radars.
Source: US Air Force
The US-operated Pituffik Space Base above the Arctic Circle was modified in 2021 to support year-round fighter operations
Kangerlussuaq was built by Washington in 1941 to support ferrying American military aircraft from the continental USA to the UK during World War II. Initially operated under the designation Bluie West Eight, the facility was subsequently renamed to Sonderstrom air base.
It ceased military operations in 1992 as part of the post-Cold War drawdown.
Washington officially maintains only a single military site in Greenland – Pituffik Space Base on the island’s northwest coast. Known as Thule air base until 2023, the station is located at 76° north latitude, some 750 miles (1,210km) above the Arctic Circle, and represents the USA’s northernmost military outpost.
In 2022, the Pentagon announced a $4 billion package to upgrade infrastructure and maintain operations at Pituffik for 12 years.
Established in 1951, the site still hosts a ballistic missile early warning system and satellite control and tracking facilities and a year-round air base capable of supporting modern fighter jets, transport aircraft and aerial refuelling tankers.
In 2021, US Air Force engineers installed an arresting wire system at Pituffik, opening up the base to reliable year-round fighter operations. The lightweight combat aircraft were frequently limited from landing at Pituffik during winter months due to high winds.
The Mobile Aircraft Arresting System allowed carrier-capable Royal Canadian Air Force Boeing F/A-18As to land in as little as 300m (984ft) during periods of high winds and low visibility, in a manner similar to recovery aboard US Navy aircraft carriers.
However, Canada is in the process of phasing out F/A-18s, which will be replaced by F-35As – once again injecting uncertainty into an all-weather fighter presence in Greenland.
See photos of fighter operations at the USA’s Pituffik Space Base on Greenland:
