Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
in a hypothetical nuclear war Russia, China and USA,islands Greenland Will be in the middle of the end of the world.
strategic importance arctic territories — in the flight paths of Chinese and Russian nuclear missiles that could fly to U.S. targets and vice versa — one of the reasons the U.S. president is doing this Donald Trump He cited a devastating campaign to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark that alarmed Greenlanders and long-time allies in Europe.
Trump has argued that U.S. ownership of Greenland is critical to his Golden Dome, a multibillion-dollar missile defense system that he says will be operational before the end of his term in 2029.
“The need for acquisition is especially important because of the Golden Dome and modern weapons systems, both offensive and defensive,” Trump said in a Truth Society post on Saturday.
It caps off another roller-coaster week involving the semi-autonomous Danish territory, with Trump again pushing for U.S. ownership of the region but then appearing to back off, announcing a “future agreement framework” for Arctic security on Wednesday, but that is unlikely to be final.
Here’s a detailed look at Greenland’s position at the nuclear defense crossroads.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that nuclear adversaries would attack each other — if that happened — would tend to take the shortest direct route, following a ballistic trajectory into space and then descending again to reach their target from a silo or launcher. The shortest routes from China or Russia to the United States (and vice versa) would fly over the Arctic region.
For example, a Russian Topol-M missile launched from the Tatishchevo silo complex southeast of Moscow could fly over Greenland if it was aimed at the U.S. ICBM force of 400 Minuteman III missiles deployed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, and Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
China’s Dongfeng-31 missiles could also fly over Greenland if launched from new silos the U.S. Department of Defense says are being built in China and target the U.S. east coast.
“If there’s a war, most of the action is going to be on that ice,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. “Think about it: Those missiles are going to fly right over the center.”
pitufik space base
A series of long-range early warning radars serve as the Pentagon’s eyes against any missile attack. The northernmost point is located at the Pitufik Space Base in Greenland. Pronounced “bee-doo-FEEK,” the base was once known as Thule Air Force Base, but was renamed in 2023 using the remote area’s Greenlandic name in recognition of the indigenous communities who were forcibly displaced by the construction of the U.S. outpost in 1951.
Map: Pitufik Space Base, Greenland
Its location above the Arctic Circle, about halfway between Washington and Moscow, allows it to use radar to monitor the Arctic, Russian and potential flight paths of Chinese missiles targeting the United States.
“This gives the United States more time to think about what to do,” said Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based analyst who specializes in Russia’s nuclear arsenal. “Greenland is a great location.”
The two-sided solid-state AN/FPS-132 radar is designed to rapidly detect and track ballistic missile launches, including those launched from submarines, to help inform the U.S. commander in chief’s response and provide data to interceptors trying to destroy the warheads.
The Air Force said the radar has a 240-degree arc with a range of nearly 5,550 kilometers (3,450 miles) and can detect objects no larger than a small car even at its furthest range.
When Trump promoted the “Golden Dome” in Davos, he said that the United States needs to own Greenland to protect it.
“You can’t defend it with a lease,” he said.
But defense experts have a hard time understanding that logic because the United States has operated on Pitufik Island for decades but does not own Greenland.
French nuclear defense expert Etienne Marcouz pointed out that Trump has never said that Britain needs to be controlled – even though Britain, like Greenland, also plays an important role in US missile defense.
The RAF-operated early warning radar at Fillingdale in northern England serves the British and US governments, scanning for missiles coming from Russia and elsewhere, as well as north to the polar regions. The unit’s motto is “Vigilamus” – Latin for “We Are Watching”.
The multi-layered “golden dome” envisioned by Trump could include space-based sensors to detect missiles. They could reduce U.S. demand for its Greenland radar stations, said Marcouz, a former nuclear defense worker at the French Defense Ministry who now works at the Foundation for Strategic Studies in Paris.
“Trump’s argument that Greenland is vital to the Golden Dome — and therefore must be invaded and, well, acquired — is wrong for several reasons,” Markuz said.
“One of them is that, for example, the UK has a radar that, as far as I know, does not exist for an invasion of the UK. On top of that, new sensors are already being tested and are in the process of being deployed, which would actually reduce the importance of Greenland.”
Due to its location, Greenland could be a useful location to deploy Golden Dome interceptors in an attempt to destroy warheads before they reach the U.S. mainland
“Highly complex systems can only reach their greatest potential and efficiency if the land is included in them,” Trump wrote in a post over the weekend.
But the United States already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement. Experts say both governments are likely to welcome any request for an expanded U.S. military footprint there before Trump steps up attacks on the territory and its owner, Denmark. It once had multiple bases and facilities, but later abandoned them, leaving only Pitufik.
“Denmark is America’s most pliant ally,” Markuz said. “The situation is very different now. I don’t know if it will be authorized, but regardless, the answer used to be ‘yes’.”