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Time for Denmark and the United States to Secure Greenland

Soldiers are pictured as they guard the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland. (Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

Robert Peters is senior research fellow for Strategic Deterrence at The Heritage Foundation's Allison Center for National Security.

The recent discussions around Greenlandic security—and the possible acquisition of Greenland by the United States—has brought the issue of Chinese and Russian threats to the forefront, particularly as it relates to their growing interest in the arctic.

As noted elsewhere, China seeks to establish economic presence in the Arctic—and almost assuredly, long-term options for military operations in the region, to include “space and satellite warfare to strategic positioning of nuclear-armed submarines.”

Russia similarly has increased its air and maritime operations in the Arctic and may bring its gray zone activities into the region as a means to disrupt NATO activities.

Indeed, the prospect for America’s adversaries to fire missile salvos at the United States is so grave that it prompted one retired Air Force general to write, “nowhere is America’s exposure to attack more acute than from its Arctic approaches—the most direct corridor through which both Russia and China could strike the United States.”

What then should be done about Greenlandic security, given the emerging threat to the arctic, as well as North America and Europe?

To begin with, the United States and Denmark should increase their joint military presence in Greenland so that they can better monitor air and maritime threats within the region.

Such efforts should include ground forces trained in arctic or alpine combat stationed at key points along Greenland’s northern coast.

Indeed, Greenland would be an ideal location for NATO militaries to engage in arctic training operations—which not only benefit military members engaged in such exercises but helps establish military presence.

In addition, the U.S. and Denmark should work with other NATO allies, such as Finland and Canada, to station icebreakers along the northernmost settlements, such as Qaanaaq and Ittoqqortoormiit. Such icebreakers would enable allied ships to operate in the Arctic year-round, which could enable allied navies to engage in effective combat operations even in winter, but are also important when it comes to sovereignty claims.

Russia’s icebreaker fleet, the largest in the world, enables Moscow to deploy naval assets to the Arctic, regardless of ice coverage.

Also, the United States should rotate Army units capable of carrying medium and intermediate range fires to Greenland so that they can engage and, if necessary, destroy sea and air threats that may transit arctic air or maritime space.

Perhaps most importantly, Greenland is an ideal place in which the U.S. can station sensors and radars that would be critically important to building the Golden Dome missile defense architecture.

Pituffik Space Base is the Pentagon’s northernmost military base and is home to a number of Space Force units that are able to monitor space, air, and missile threats due to systems such as the Upgraded Early Warning Radar.  

Such systems enable military personnel to detect and track intercontinental and sea-launched ballistic missiles transiting the arctic and support the tracking and characterization of objects in orbit. The U.S. should augment these capabilities by fielding a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Greenland.

The LRDR is one of the most advanced radar system in the world and is a key component of America’s ground-based missile interceptor system. It’s mission is to track incoming missile threats and distinguish actual warheads from debris and decoys in order to ensure effective missile defense operations. Clear Space Force Station in Alaska is home to the United States’ only LRDR—a second LRDR in Greenland would enhance the efficacy of America’s missile defense capabilities, while also giving the United States redundancy in its ability to track missile threats should the LRDR at Clear be destroyed.

Taken together, the U.S. and Denmark, along with other European allies, can ensure that the Arctic is secure from Chinese and Russian influence and is a lynchpin in discriminating air, missile, and maritime threats to a unified NATO.

If Denmark proposes such concrete steps to Washington, wherein both countries could cooperate to shore up Greenlandic security, both nations’ legitimate security concerns could be addressed. At the same time they would be able to mitigate Russian and Chinese threats to North America, Europe, and the Arctic.

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