Denmark leads drills in Greenland at time of tensions over Trump takeover threats

Denmark is leading a military exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Greenland against a backdrop of months of tensions over the Trump administration's desire for US jurisdiction over the vast island in the North Atlantic.

The Arctic Light 2025 exercise 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 expressed wariness toward Russia as a "regional superpower" in the far north, while highlighting what he described as "a very good relationship with the US military."

On Monday, Danish forces trained boarding ships with special forces as military observers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and Germany observed.

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 armed forces of both Denmark and Greenland, a strategically located island that is a semi-autonomous territory under Copenhagen.

The military says its personnel are training along with allies to reinforce "their joint response capabilities against destabilising threats to Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions."

Stronger Danish military presence

Denmark is also aiming to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic.

In late January, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion-kroner (€1.95 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands to "improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region."

The Danish military did not mention current tensions with Washington in its statement about the exercises, and the chief of Denmark's Joint Arctic Command pointed to good relations with the American military.

"We have worked together with the US for decades, both in exercises and also operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and so on," Major General Søren Andersen said on Monday.

Denmark will take 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.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he seeks jurisdiction over Greenland and has not ruled out military force to take the island, comments that alarmed leaders across Europe.

Denmark and Greenland have said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the US gathering intelligence there.

Last month, Denmark's foreign minister summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen for talks after the leading national broadcaster reported that at least three people with connections to Trump had been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.