Danish armed forces expand and internationalise presence in Greenland

The Danish Ministry of Defence (Forsvarsministeriet) is expanding and internationalising the exercise activities of the Danish armed forces in Greenland in response to US President Donald Trump’s continued talk of acquiring the Danish-owned territory for the United States.

In addition to the Danish armed forces ramping up their deployments to Greenland, various NATO allies are sending contingents to participate in Denmark’s current exercises in the territory, including France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Explaining the rationale behind the bolster deployments on its website, the Forsvarsministeriet stated on 14 January 2026, “The geopolitical tensions have spread to the Arctic. The government of Greenland and the Danish Ministry of Defence have therefore decided to continue the Danish armed forces’ increased exercise activity in Greenland, in close co-operation with NATO allies. From today there will be an expanded military presence in and around Greenland – in close co-operation with NATO allies. The purpose is to train the ability to operate under the unique Arctic conditions and to strengthen the alliance’s footprint in the Arctic, benefitting both European and transatlantic security.”

The Forsvarsministeriet noted that exercise activities in Greenland in 2026 could include guarding critical infrastructure; providing assistance to local Greenland authorities, including the police; receiving allied troops; deploying fighter aircraft in and around Greenland; and conducting naval operations.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen was quoted by the Forsvarsministeriet as stating, “Security in the Arctic is of crucial importance to the Kingdom of Denmark and our Arctic allies, and it is therefore important that we, in close co-operation with allies, further strengthen our ability to operate in the region. We did this in 2025, and as a natural extension of these efforts, we will continue and expand the co-operation in 2026.

“The Danish armed forces, together with a number of Arctic and European allies, will explore in the coming weeks how an increased presence and exercise activity in the Arctic can be implemented in practice,” Poulsen added.

Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, met with US Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on 14 January in an effort to move on from the diplomat spat caused by Trump’s relentless calls for the United States to acquire Greenland. Rasmussen stated that he had had a “frank but also constructive discussion”, while adding that Trump’s insistence on “conquering” Greenland was “totally unacceptable”.

“The discussions focused on how to ensure the long-term security of Greenland, and here our perspectives continue to differ,” said Rasmussen. “The president has made his view clear, and we have a different position. We, the Kingdom of Denmark, continue to believe the long-term security of Greenland can continue to be ensured inside the current framework.”

Denmark’s European NATO allies are clearly now looking to demonstrate this reality.

As ESD has previously noted, Trump’s purported justifications for needing to acquire Greenland for security reasons make little sense. In 1951 the United States and Denmark signed a defence agreement in relation to the territory allowing the US government “to improve and generally to fit the area for military use” and to “construct, install, maintain, and operate facilities and equipment” there. While there are currently only around 150 US military personnel stationed in Greenland, at Pituffik Space Base, under the agreement with Denmark there is no effectively no limit to the number of US military personnel that can be deployed there.

On 12 January news emerged that a number of NATO countries are to propose a new joint NATO mission called ‘Arctic Sentry’ to monitor and protect security interests in the Arctic region in a bid to head off the US Trump Administration’s desire to annex Greenland.