U.S. President Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland as he says it is the only way for the United States to secure its defence. Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory, refuse and say any concerns Washington has can be addressed via their existing defence agreement.
Eight nations have territory in the Arctic: Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Here is an overview of their military assets:
RUSSIA
Half of the landmass in the Arctic is Russian territory. Since 2005 Moscow has re-opened and modernised tens of Soviet-era military bases, both on its Arctic mainland and on the islands off its northern coast.
Russia maintains a high state of readiness at its nuclear testing site on Novaya Zemlya, an Arctic archipelago, although it has not conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion since 1990. Last October, it carried out a test launch of its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile from Novaya Zemlya.
In the European Arctic, the Kola Peninsula hosts about two-thirds of Russia’s second-strike nuclear capabilities – its ability to answer a nuclear attack with its own – according to Mathieu Boulegue, a senior fellow for the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
The area is also home to Russia’s Northern Fleet, headquartered in Severomorsk, which operates six of the country’s 12 nuclear-armed submarines, according to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The other six are operated by the Pacific Fleet based in Vladivostok.
The only way for the Northern Fleet to access the North Atlantic is via the Barents Sea, between the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago and the northern coast of Europe. Keeping that access free is therefore essential to Moscow.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Since 1957, the U.S. and Canada have jointly defended against threats to their homeland, including from nuclear missiles, via the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD.
They are modernising NORAD, according to the IISS: Canada is procuring two over-the-horizon radar systems covering the Arctic and polar approaches, with the first due to reach initial operating capability by 2028.
President Trump is keen to develop a new missile defence system, called Golden Dome, for which he says Greenland is crucial.
Washington has the Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland under a defence agreement with Denmark. Otherwise, most of its Arctic forces are located across eight bases in Alaska and count approximately 22,000 military personnel, according to IISS and the U.S. Northern Command.
Canada has five Arctic bases, including Alert, a signals intelligence station on Ellesmere Island that is the world’s northernmost permanently inhabited settlement.
South of the Arctic Circle, Canada operates a base at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, which hosts a ranger patrol group and an air base.
Canada is building a facility on Baffin Island to refuel offshore patrol ships – though the project has sustained numerous delays. The U.S., meanwhile, is expanding existing port facilities at Nome, Alaska, according to IISS.
DENMARK
Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, headquartered in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, counts around 150 military and civilian personnel.
JAC is also present at the Kangerlussuaq air base as well as four smaller military stations in eastern and north-eastern Greenland. JAC has one liaison officer at Pituffik.
Its Sirius dog sled patrol – derided by Trump – is a military unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance in the extreme conditions of northeastern Greenland.
SWEDEN AND FINLAND
Sweden has no bases north of the Arctic Circle, but has an air force base at Lulea, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and an army base with two regiments in Boden, some 40 km (25 miles) inland.
Finland has an air base in Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, and a Jaeger Brigade base further north in Finnish Lapland.
Since joining NATO, the two countries have been integrating their militaries with the rest of the alliance.
NORWAY
Norway is NATO’s monitor for a vast maritime area of some 2 million sq km (770,000 sq miles) of the North Atlantic, including the Arctic.
Many of its military installations are above the Arctic Circle. It has four air bases, including one for its new F-35 fighter jets, two navy bases, a string of army bases and a reception centre for NATO allies coming for reinforcement in case of attack.
There are no military installations on Svalbard, Norway’s Arctic archipelago.
ICELAND
The North Atlantic island is a NATO member but has no military, only a coastguard service.
It hosts U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime-patrol aircraft in a rotational deployment, based at Keflavik air base, near Reykjavik.
NATO fighter jets periodically rotate at Keflavik to keep Icelandic airspace secure. The deployment usually lasts two to three weeks, three times a year.
Sources: International Institute of Strategic Studies’s Military Balance 2025; Mathieu Boulegue; NATO; U.S. Northern Command; Icelandic government
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche)
