Greenland's strategic ice: Under the radar, above controversy

In the 1960s, the U.S. strategic air force conducted Operation Chrome Dome. As a result, the Arctic region was continuously patrolled by aircraft carrying nuclear bombs, ready to respond with a nuclear air raid to a suspected Soviet attack on the United States.

In 1968, the pilot of one of the B-52 bombers, aware of the discomfort awaiting him during long hours of patrol, decided to bring a few foam cushions aboard. He couldn’t have foreseen the serious consequences of this minor deviation from the rules.

Due to a problem with the heating system, the cushions caught fire, and the plane, engulfed in flames, began to fall. The terrified crew directed the aircraft toward the nearest airport— the American Thule base in Greenland.

The bomber did not manage to land. It crashed near the airport, and the conventional explosives—used in nuclear bombs to initiate explosions—scattered the radioactive contents.

The radioactive contamination of Greenland caused an international scandal and led to calls to remove the Americans from the island. To address the situation, the Pentagon conducted an operation during the polar night to cut out and evacuate the contaminated ice from Greenland, which was transported back to the United States.

This incident is just one of many related to the American presence on Danish territory. Since 1940, American troops have continuously been stationed in Greenland, and the Pentagon treats the Arctic as an area of critical importance for U.S. security. Why is Greenland so important to America?

The polar region provides the shortest route between most of Russia's territory and the United States. During the Cold War, it was over the Arctic that waves of Soviet bombers were expected to fly, potentially targeting American cities with atomic bombs. It was precisely to counter this threat that NORAD was established—the command responsible for the air defence of the northern part of the American continent.

Over the Arctic lie the routes of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which, in the event of a third world war, would be used by the superpowers to exchange nuclear attacks.

Near Greenland is also a route for Russian submarines, which could, in the event of war, cut Europe off from American economic and military aid by attacking shipping in the Atlantic.

When considering the planned and growing role of the Northern Sea Route in global trade, as well as the rich resources of Arctic materials and potential disputes over their division, the military presence of the USA in the far north becomes more understandable.

The Thule base (now Pituffik), built at enormous expense, is one of the most important American military installations located outside the USA, and Greenland is a crucial link in the chain of American security.

In the past, the Pentagon attempted to hide part of the installations being built on the island under the ice.

In the 1960s, under Operation Iceworm, conducted under the guise of the scientific project Camp Century, the Americans drilled miles of tunnels in the Greenland ice sheet, building an underground city powered—also hidden under the ice—by a nuclear power plant.

The goal of these activities was to place hidden silos with Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles in Greenland. Ultimately, the operation was a failure due to the destruction of the sub-glacial infrastructure by ice movements. Besides the tunnels, it left behind almost 180,000 litres of radioactive waste trapped 30 metres under the surface of the glacier.

The key Greenland base—Pituffik Space Base (originally known as Thule)—has been operational continuously since the early 1950s. Built in secrecy by over 12,000 workers transported to the far north, the presence of American troops in the Arctic quickly ceased to be a secret. Shortly after its construction, the base was accidentally discovered by a French anthropologist traveling with a friendly Inuit from the North Pole.

However, Pituffik is more than just a large airport with a 3-kilometre runway, handling over 3,000 takeoffs annually and capable of servicing the largest aircraft of the American air force. Aircraft designed to patrol the northern reaches of Russia take off from there.

The base also houses the world’s northernmost deep-water port, as well as infrastructure related to airspace surveillance, including the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Site, an installation responsible for detecting intercontinental ballistic missiles heading toward the USA.

Since 2020, Pituffik Space Base has been overseen by the U.S. Space Force, and the American contingent in Greenland consists of about 600 people.