Denmark announced on Monday, the 27th of January, that it plans to invest 14.6 billion Danish kroner (2.05 billion US dollars, 1.96 billion euros) to increase its military presence in the Arctic after US President Donald Trump reiterated his interest in controlling Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, report the British broadcaster BBC and Reuters.
Earlier this month, Trump said Greenland was vital to US security and Denmark should give up control of the strategically important island. He did not rule out the use of military or economic force to achieve his ambitions.
“We have to face the fact that there are serious security and defence challenges in the Arctic and the North Atlantic,” said Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
Although Denmark is responsible for the security and defence of Greenland, it has limited military capabilities on the vast island, which is considered a security “black hole”.
Greenland, the world’s most sparsely populated territory, is home to around 56 000 mainly indigenous Inuit people.
Denmark currently has four ageing inspection ships, a Challenger surveillance aircraft and 12 dog-sled patrols to monitor an area four times the size of France.
The agreement will finance three new Arctic Fleet ships, more long-range drones with improved imaging capability and more powerful satellites, Defence Minister Poulsen told a press conference.
“Greenland is facing a changing threat landscape,” said Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s Minister for Independence and Foreign Affairs, in a statement on the new defence spending. “I am pleased that with this partial agreement we have taken the first step in strengthening security in and around Greenland.”
The new investment follows a separate announcement by Denmark in December that it would commit around 1.5 billion US dollars to the defence of Greenland, including the purchase of new ships, long-range drones and additional dog sled teams.
The political parties agreed to allocate more resources to the Arctic in a deal to be tabled in the first half of the year.
The US military has a permanent presence at the Pitufika space base in north-west Greenland, a strategic location for its ballistic missile early warning system, as the island is the shortest route from Europe to North America.
In recent years, there has also been growing interest in Greenland’s natural resources, including rare earth minerals, uranium and iron mining.