laststandonzombieisland

The Danish military has been heavy with updates on operations in the suddenly controversial territory of Greenland, and notably has done more in the past month to boost the defense of the massive land mass than it has in the past 80 years.

I would think everyone would agree that this is a good thing.

The Arktisk Kommando (Joint Arctic Command) has been steady with posts on social media in the past couple of weeks detailing visits by the patrol frigate HDMS Vaeddernen (F359), and her embarked MH60 to coastal towns and ship tours to locals (more than 3,000 calling aboard her at Nuuk Harbor alone, about one-sixth of the capital city’s population).

Guard details mounted at the temporary military area in Qinngorput outside of Nuuk– with soldiers practicing guarding critical infrastructure.

For the first time, Jægerkorpset arctic specialists (recently established) from metropolitan Denmark have been sent to Greenland’s roughest terrain at the Blosseville coast for operations.

There have even been visits and joint operations with small detachments of French (27e BIM) and German mountain troops (since withdrawn), brought in by two Danish C-130Js to Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq.

The exercise, Operation Arctic Endurance, also saw liaison personnel from Belgium, Britain, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden– typically two officers from each.

In all, some 150 Danish troops from the Engineer Regiment and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment (Jydske Dragonregiment), and about 50 from NATO allies have been sent to Greenland for the Arctic Endurance mission, which is slated to run “a year or more.”

This bolsters the 90 regular personnel of the Arktisk Kommando, effectively tripling its size.

Keep in mind that when Germany invaded Denmark proper in April 1940, Greenland only had four police officers and two small (70-foot) sailing ships— the Royal Danish Navy’s opmålingsskib (survey ship) Ternen, and inspektionsskip Maagen, with 22 total crew– a sum of just 26 military and police to secure a land three times the size of Texas.

The French FREMM-class frigate Bretagne has been seen in the Greenlandic littoral and has been cross decking operations with her embarked Aeronaval EH101 helicopter.

Finally, two Danish F-35s from Fighter Wing Skrydstrup deployed directly to the area around Kulusuk on Greenland’s east coast with the aid of a French Air Force MRTT tanker.

All of this is an “about time” sort of thing.