For Danish armed forces stationed at Joint Arctic Command in Greenland capital Nuuk, things just got very serious. The pleasantly painted blue building, hosting the boasts little fortification and would be unlikely to intimidate aggressors from the US or anywhere else.
But after Donald Trump initially announced plans to take over Greenland in January 2025, a £3.5 billion expansion in the Arctic for the was announced, which will include a brand new command HQ in Nuuk, to monitor any threats in the Arctic region.
In what now seems a strange deal, given Mr Trump’s talk of war, Denmark is also buying 16 more F-35 fighter jets from the USA, bringing its total fleet to 43. The ramping up of defences has not, so far intimidated the US president , who fired back by mocking the investment – saying it would add only a “single dog sled”.
Speaking months before Mr Trump suggested he might use force to take Greenland, Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said: “With this agreement we significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Danish Armed Forces in the region.”
The Arctic is at a critical crossroads between North America, Russia and the rest of Europe.
Denmark worked on the new defence package with the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
It will buy two new Arctic ships, maritime patrol planes, drones and early warning radar.
For personnel stationed in Nuuk, they are aware that, by law, they are compelled to fire at any invader, no matter the odds against them.
A 1952 directive means soldiers must engage without awaiting orders if anyone were to invade Danish territory.
One source said: “All armed forces people know there is a duty to open fire if we are invaded, whether it’s America or anyone else. There has been no expectation of that ever happening but we are all aware that the world is changing pretty fast.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said last week that a military attempt at taking Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, would mark the end of NATO.
When Trump announced his big takeover plan over a week ago, he claimed that Greenland was “covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place”.
Danish and Norwegian defence officials have repeatedly warned about intensifying Russian naval activity in their sector of the Arctic Ocean but deny that Chinese warships have been detected near their waters.
