Greenland has returned to the center of public attention after US President Donald Trump reiterated his intention to annex this territory – now under the control of Denmark – to the US, considered “indispensable for American national security”. But if on the one hand it is clear that Trump’s real interest is the mineral resources present on the island, on the other hand not everyone knows that the United States already owns an important military base in Greenland: it is the Pituffik Space Base, also known as Thule Air Basewhich houses the Bmews radar system, capable of promptly identifying any missile attacks directed against the United States.
Let’s see the characteristics of this US military base and the other military outposts on the largest island in the world.
The characteristics of the Pituffik Space Base military base
The Pituffik Space Base is a US military base located in the north-west of Greenland: it is the only base that the United States owns in the Arctic, as well as the northernmost one managed by the United States Air Force, being approximately 1,100 km north of the Arctic Circle. Its construction was legitimized by an agreement signed between Washington and Denmark in 1951, according to which both countries would collaborate to militarily defend the NATO member island (being part of Denmark). Until 2023, the military base was known as “Thule Air Base”: in that year, the Biden administration decided to rename it as “Pituffik” in honor of Greenland’s cultural heritage.
Pituffik military base, Greenland. Credit: OpenStreet Map
Operational since 1952, in the early years the military base served as an intermediate stop on the air route between North America and northern Europe, especially for B-36 aircraft, capable of carrying nuclear and thermonuclear bombs. With the development of a new generation of aircraft, capable of traveling longer distances, the base was reconverted and became part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (Bmews), capable of providing 15 minutes warning in the event of a Soviet missile attack against American soil. At the end of the Cold War, a plan to modernize the Pituffik Space Base was initiated.
Currently, there are 150 US soldiers present at the base: it consists of a 3,000 meter landing strip and still houses the Bmews radar system inside, capable of promptly tracking the launch of intercontinental missiles towards North America, calculating their route and impact time and starting the various alert phases for the defense of the continent. In this case, the geographical position plays a fundamental role: at latitudes such as the Arctic, in fact, the curvature of the earth means that the warning can be greater than in other sites located at more southern latitudes, which means an important advantage of several minutes to activate procedures or countermeasures.
Pituffik Space Base also hosts the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, which controls satellites for intelligence operations, communications and warnings in the event of an attack on US soil.
The secret military base of Camp Century
An honorable mention goes to the secret base of Camp Century, buried about 30 meters below the ice of Greenland. Camp Century was conceived by the US government in 1959 as a top-secret project (dubbed “Project Iceworm”) to test the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic to the Soviet Union. When active, the military base hosted between 85 and 200 soldiers and was powered by a small nuclear reactor: the initial project also included the creation of a 4 km long tunnel system, capable of containing over 600 nuclear missiles.
In 1967, however, the project was abandoned and the military base was completely decommissioned: today Camp Century has been transformed into a landfill of toxic and radioactive waste, buried under a blanket of ice: as confirmed by a 2016 study, there are around 9,000 tonnes of physical waste inside, including remains of buildings and rails, over 200,000 liters of diesel and 24 million liters of waste water. Added to this are also the radioactive waste – the quantity of which is not certain – deriving from the regenerating fluid of the reactor.
Finally, there are also the two former air bases that the United States planned to consider Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq, active until 1992 and 1958 respectively. Today both bases have been converted into airports.
What about Denmark’s military bases in Greenland?
At this point it is natural to ask: does Denmark, which controls Greenland, have military bases on the island? Not exactly: the Danish army, in fact, has military outposts, such as Mestersvig Airfield or North Station, that actually demonstrate Denmark’s presence on the island (and therefore its control). In reality, these military outposts are mostly used as bases for scientific research and host several teams of scientists for 26-month expeditions.
In short, there is no well-structured Danish military base in Greenland, or at least comparable to that of Pituffik Space Base: nevertheless, Denmark is responsible for the security and foreign policy of this island, which has around 57,000 inhabitants and manages its own economic and internal policy autonomously. According to the Danish government, military spending on Arctic security was increased by $13.7 billion in 2025.
