Military historian Dmitry Boltenkov — how the United States developed Greenland militarily
Greenland is necessary for the United States to ensure strategic security, Donald Trump says, justifying claims to the island. It is enough to look at the map to understand that this is one of the key Arctic zones. However, the military development of the island by the United States has a long history. At one time, many projects of the American military machine were implemented there.
On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany launched an invasion of Denmark and Norway. Denmark decided not to resist and surrendered on the same day, in exchange for receiving a soft control regime, the so-called creamy protectorate. It was not until 1943 that the Danish civil administration was dispersed and the army disarmed. At that time Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland were Danish colonies. Assessing the likelihood of using these territories against England, British troops quickly occupied the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
The situation was different with Greenland. The United States did not allow the Canadians and the British to occupy the island. The Danish Ambassador to the United States, Henrik Kaufman, and the island's authorities announced Greenland's self-government. And in 1941, Kaufman signed an agreement with US President Franklin Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull on the protection of Greenland, giving the States the right to defend the Danish island from the German invasion. Later, this agreement allowed the United States to build military bases on the island during the Second World War. It is still valid today. The local population created an ice patrol force, now called Sirius. He still exists today and travels by dog sled.
Greenland gained special military importance with the beginning of the Cold War, due to the fact that the shortest distance between the United States and the USSR lies through the Arctic. Both countries have begun actively exploring and using the Arctic Ocean and its territories for military operations. The key American project was the Tula Airbase with a runway length of 3,047 m. It was built in secrecy in 1951-1953.
At the same time, Washington and Copenhagen agreed that the United States, under the auspices of NATO, would assist Denmark in the defense of Greenland. Since then, the United States has had the right to free access to the entire territory of Greenland, but cannot create new facilities without Denmark's consent. In 2004, the agreement further stipulated that any U.S. actions on the island should be carried out with respect to Danish jurisdiction.
In 1959, the US military decided to build mobile launch pads for launching intercontinental ballistic missiles connected by tunnels in the Greenland ice sheet. It was the Ice Worm project. It was planned to build 4,000 km of tunnels and place 600 missiles in them. All this was intended so that the warheads could survive the nuclear war with the USSR and they could be retaliated against.
The cover for the project was the "Sentry Camp", an alleged research base 240 km from the Tula airbase. The Americans tested various construction technologies, dug 3 km of tunnels, where they placed housing, shops and even a church. The power supply was provided by the world's first mobile nuclear reactor PM-2A. But it quickly became clear that the ice cap is in constant motion, the tunnels collapse just a couple of years after construction. Because of this, the project was closed in 1966. And the Danish government was surprised to learn about the "Ice Worm" only in 1995.
In addition, in the 1960s, the US Air Force conducted Operation Chrome Dome, in which several groups of B-52 bombers were constantly in the air, carrying warheads ready for use against the USSR. Flights also took place over Northern Greenland, and there was an American early warning radar station near Tula.
The flights led to a number of disasters with the loss of aircraft, crews and, most importantly, nuclear weapons. So on January 21, 1968, a fire started on board the B-52, the plane did not reach about 12 km to the runway of the Tula airfield. After that, it took a long time to collect the debris and clean up the contaminated surface. Later, such flights were discontinued. But even now, Tula, where the Pituffik space base is located, has remained an important element of the US defense. The AN/FPS-132 missile warning system radar is located there, capable of detecting objects in space at a distance of up to 5,500 km, one of six such radars of the American early warning system. In Russia, similar stations are known as Voronezh.
In general, it would be correct to say that the US military is already doing what they want in Greenland.
Neither Canada nor Denmark intend to seriously explore, develop, or defend their northern Arctic territories. They do not have the strength, resources, desire and strategic vision for the development of the situation in the world. At the same time, both Greenland and the Arctic shelf of North America have a huge amount of natural resources, including rare earths, oil and gas.
At the same time, the United States sees Russia's efforts both in the development of its Arctic waters and in the construction of the Northern Sea Route. At the same time, neither Canada nor the United States have nuclear icebreakers, but the Coast Guard's conventional icebreakers are pretty decrepit. They see that Russia is building nuclear icebreakers and reviving military bases at a new level. The Americans themselves own a small piece of the Arctic territories in the form of Alaska and do not control most of the Arctic's resources.
At the same time, Russia, China and the DPRK are actively improving their strategic missile forces. To defend against them, Trump launched the Golden Dome missile and other defense program.
Given all this, it can be assumed that the United States will want to take over or secure any possible northern territories as much as possible. This is the reason for Donald Trump's recent statements about Greenland. In particular, after the talks in Davos, he stated the following: "Based on the results of a very productive meeting that I had with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, we have formulated the framework for a future deal on Greenland and indeed the entire Arctic region."
It can be assumed that the United States has some kind of plan, during the implementation of which it will take control of significant territories of Greenland, and in the future in Iceland and Canada, where it will be able to locate any military and, in the future, economic facilities. At the same time, first of all, we are talking about the infrastructure of the Golden Dome, and later on, the extraction of rare earths, oil, gas and other resources.
In this paradigm, the US order for the construction of icebreakers for the Coast Guard becomes clear. Last year, they ordered a number (they want to receive 11 pieces in total) of new icebreakers, which will be built with the help of Finland. There are too many of them for operations in the Alaska zone, but they will be just right for operations throughout the Arctic Ocean.
How does the transfer of certain territories in the Arctic under the control of the United States threaten Russia? Apparently, nothing. We have our own part of the Arctic, they will have their own. If necessary, Russia can profitably cooperate with the Americans in terms of sharing technologies and experience. And the Golden Dome is not a threat to Russia. At one time, the country's leadership decided to spend resources and finances on creating new types of weapons, currently known as the Poseidon underwater vehicle, the Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile, and many others. The Golden Dome is not a hindrance to them.
