Denmark leads Arctic military exercise amid Trump tensions over Greenland
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- The exercise occurs amid tensions over the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to assert U.S. jurisdiction over the strategically located Arctic territory.
- Denmark announced a $2.3-billion investment to strengthen military surveillance and sovereignty capabilities around Greenland and the North Atlantic region.
NUUK, Greenland — Denmark is leading a military exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Greenland, a maneuver that coincides with months of tensions over the Trump administration’s desire for U.S. jurisdiction over the vast Arctic territory.
The Arctic Light 2025 exercise, which follows maneuvers with identical or similar titles in previous years, involves more than 550 service members from Denmark and NATO allies France, Germany, Sweden and Norway, according to the Danish military.
The chief of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command pointed to wariness toward Russia as a “regional superpower” in the far north and highlighted what he called “a very good relationship with the U.S. military.”
On Monday, Danish forces trained boarding ships with special forces as military observers from the United States, Britain, Canada, Sweden and Germany looked on. Troops descended from helicopters on ropes and and climbed up from speedboats in temperatures barely above freezing.
The guests from allied nations aboard the Danish frigate Niels Juel saw Danish F-16 fighter jets fly by, as well as live-fire exercises.
The stated aim of the exercise is to strengthen the operational readiness of the Danish armed forces and Greenland, a strategically located island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
The military says its personnel is training along with allies to reinforce “their joint response capabilities against destabilizing threats to Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.”
Denmark’s foreign minister has summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country after a report that people connected to Donald Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Denmark is moving to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. In late January, the government announced a roughly $2.3-billion agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”
In the Arctic Light exercise, which started Sept. 9 and ends Friday, Denmark is deploying the frigate, two helicopters, two F-16s and personnel from all three branches of the armed forces, including special forces. France is sending a naval ship, a tanker aircraft and mountain infantry equipped with drones.
Good ties with U.S. military
The Danish military didn’t mention the current tensions with Washington in announcing the exercise, and the chief of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command pointed to good relations with the American military.
“We have worked together with the U.S. for decades, both in exercises and also operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and so on,” Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen said on Monday. That will continue this week, because Denmark will be taking its fighter jets to the United States’ Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, he added.
“So, we will land up there, and I think the pilots will have a cup of coffee with the base commander there,” Andersen said.
The Danish foreign minister has rebuked Trump administration for its ‘tone’ in criticizing Denmark and Greenland, saying his country is investing more into Arctic security.
This year’s Arctic Light is taking place against a backdrop of growing wariness toward Russia in the region.
“I think it’s fair to say that Russia has built up in the Arctic for the last 20 years, and Russia is a regional superpower in the Arctic,” Andersen said.
When the war in Ukraine ends, “I think most of us working in this business ... think that Russia will start building up again other places and use their resources not in Ukraine, but other places in the world,” he said.
President Trump has repeatedly said that he seeks U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland. He hasn’t ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich territory.
Denmark and Greenland have said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. gathering intelligence there. Last month, Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen for talks after the main national broadcaster reported that at least three people with connections to Trump had been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Jenne writes for the Associated Press.
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