Denmark’s government has proposed buying two new Arctic inspection ships and increasing dog sled patrols to bolster its military presence in Greenland, as US President-elect Donald Trump eyes the island, local media reported. .
The government has also proposed upgrading the airport at Kangerlussuaq, a former US military base in western Greenland, to accommodate F-35 fighter jets, broadcasters DR and TV2 said on Friday.
Denmark has already set aside $400 million to strengthen surveillance and intelligence in the Arctic and North Atlantic with long-range drones.
Trump this week reiterated his ambition to gain control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Arctic territory of Denmark that the new US president considers crucial to American security.
Denmark, although responsible for the security and defense of Greenland, has limited military capabilities on the vast island. They currently include four aging inspection vessels, a Challenger surveillance plane and 12 dog sled patrols, all tasked with monitoring an area four times the size of France.
The tradition of using sled dogs to patrol Greenland dates back to the Second World War, with the patrol being a specialized unit of the Royal Danish Navy.
Defense spending
After more than a decade of drastic cuts in defense spending, Denmark last year allocated 190 billion Danish kroner ($26 billion) to its armed forces over a ten-year period, some of which will go to the Arctic .
Danish lawmakers began long-delayed negotiations this Friday on how to distribute these funds, which are being progressively allocated through political agreements. Discussions focused on what part of the budget should go towards Greenland’s defense requirements.
Earlier this week, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he was eager to brief Trump on Denmark’s “huge” military buildup since his last term as president.
However, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen acknowledged on Thursday that necessary military investments had been “neglected for many years”.
Poulsen said last month that more funds should be allocated for Denmark’s military presence in the Arctic, although he did not provide details.
“The US concerns are real, and there are some very concrete and huge problems regarding Greenland,” defense analyst and retired Navy commander Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen told Reuters.
“The U.S. needs to feel safe in this area, and if Denmark doesn’t do something about it, they will have to deal with it themselves.”
The US military maintains a permanent presence at Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland. The strategic location is vital for the US military and its ballistic missile early warning system, as the shortest route from Europe to North America passes through the island.
On Thursday, the US embassy in Copenhagen stated that there were no plans to increase the US military presence in Greenland.
This content was originally published in Crisis in Greenland: Denmark wants more ships and dog sled patrols on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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