Overview
- Danish broadcaster DR reports an operations order dated January 13 directed a defensive plan that included wiring runways at Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq for demolition to prevent U.S. aircraft from landing.
- The January deployment was publicly billed as the NATO drill Arctic Endurance, but sources say it was an operational mission with Danish troops carrying live ammunition, explosives and blood supplies.
- France, Germany, Sweden and Norway sent contingents, while Danish F‑35s and a French naval vessel supported a posture designed to raise the political cost of any unilateral U.S. move.
- Planning intensified after the January 3 U.S. operation in Venezuela and President Trump’s renewed statements that the United States must control Greenland for national security.
- Tensions cooled when Trump said on January 21 he would not use force, and this week the head of U.S. Northern Command said Washington is working with Denmark to expand access under the 1951 treaty.