Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen wants a new headquarters for the Danish military’s Joint Arctic Command (Arktisk Kommando) to be placed in Greenland capital Nuuk.
The Joint Arctic Command, often shortened to Arctic Command, is a part of the Danish military and is responsible for defence tasks including sovereignty enforcement as well as search and rescue in both Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Poulsen is also prepared to establish a regular Greenlandic military unit if the territory’s government favours this, he said in an interview with broadcaster DR.
“I think we will need a larger permanent presence of the Danish military, ideally in cooperation with relevant partners in Greenland,” he said.
That would mean the Danish military would be present in Greenland “on a more permanent basis, rather than only when there are exercises, as it were,” the minister said.
An internal government memo seen by DR also suggests that plans for increased military presence in Greenland are on the way.
The document, written prior to the Nato summit in June, was prepared ahead of negotiations over a new plan for government spending related to the Danish autonomous territories in the Arctic.
It includes a proposal to establish a Greenlandic military unit under the Joint Arctic Command. The unit could be deployed for “small tactical tasks” including battle, guard duty and rescue missions, the document states according to DR.
The wording of the document indicates that the government wants to establish a fully fledged military unit, DR’s defence correspondent, Mads Korsager suggested in the broadcaster’s report.
“Until now, the mantra for the Danish Kingdom and especially for Greenland has been that the Arctic was ‘a low-tension area’. In other words, the fewer uniforms and weapons, the better. Judging by the wording of this proposal, that principle has well and truly been abandoned,” Korsager said.
The need for a stronger presence in the Arctic, and thereby in Greenland, follows a recent security assessment by Danish military intelligence service FE, which is also mentioned in the document.
According to FE, geopolitical tensions between Russia, China and the United States have spread to the Arctic and the North Atlantic, and Greenland would play a pivotal role if an armed conflict were to break out between Nato and Russia.
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