US plans two new military bases in Greenland

The United States plans to establish two new military bases in Greenland, according to information obtained by Danish public broadcaster DR. Their locations have not been disclosed, but the US has repeatedly shown interest in the airport at Narsarsuaq, a settlement in southern Greenland.

Residents of Narsarsuaq are sceptical about the prospect of a permanent US presence. Ole Guldager, who runs the Narsarsuaq Museum, said houses close to the runway could make it difficult to accommodate both local residents and a new base.

“I do not think we will be able to live here alongside the Americans,” Guldager told DR. He said activities would likely be heavily controlled and that the Americans might prefer residents to move away.

US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that the United States would work with Greenland’s population as it “immediately begins the process of developing a large military presence in the relevant part of Greenland.”

Guldager said he did not trust the president’s statement, citing what he described as the unpredictability shown by the US administration in recent years, particularly during the past two years. He said trust would have to be rebuilt before he could imagine living and cooperating with Americans in Narsarsuaq.

Aqqaluk Lynge, founder of the Greenlandic party Inuit Ataqatigiit and a former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, said he understood residents’ fear that they could be forced to move. However, he stressed that no details were known about any possible new bases.

Lynge said it was important for Greenland to preserve a civilian section in Narsarsuaq. That, he said, was the only way to establish a reasonable relationship between a US presence and Greenlandic society.

Malene Vahl Rasmussen, mayor of Kommune Kujalleq, said the municipality would not compromise on civilian rights or Narsarsuaq’s status as a settlement if a base were established there.

Neither Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen nor Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus would comment on the specific content of the agreement with the United States. Frederiksen told DR that the government could not discuss its substance before a signed agreement was in place.

Greenland’s business organisation, Grønlands Erhverv, said an agreement between Greenland, Denmark and the United States could benefit the Greenlandic economy. Its chairman, Christian Kjeldsen, said it might be less important whether the United States or Denmark carried out the upgrades, as the activity should be viewed as a pillar of the economy.

Kjeldsen does not know the contents of the agreement, which Donald Trump, Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen are expected to sign the following day. He said all parties had so far described it as satisfactory, creating the basis for what he called a win-win-win situation.

Narsarsuaq previously hosted a large US military base called Bluie West 1. It operated from 1941 to 1958, and the runway was built and later extended there before being transferred to Denmark and converted into a civilian airport.

The United States currently operates one base in Greenland, Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland.