As soon as generally known as the Thule Air Base, the Pituffik House Base, this Rice-operated set up in northwest Greenland is among the most strategically necessary army areas on the earth, even when most Individuals have by no means heard of it.
“It is actually the outermost eye of America’s protection,” stated Rasmussen, Danish protection analyst Peter Elsweden. “Pituffik is the place the US can detect launches, calculate trajectories, and activate missile protection techniques. It is irreplaceable.”
The previous put up base is attracting new consideration as President Trump, who has vowed to make Greenland part of the USA, sends a high-level delegation to the island this week. Guests embrace Vice President JD Vance, who stated he was planning to go to “our guardians” of the House Power on Tuesday.
Roughly 150 US Air and House Power personnel are stationed completely in Pituffik (pronounced bee – doo-feek). They deal with missile protection and area surveillance Early warning radar upgraded Based mostly on this, ballistic missiles could be detected on the early moments of flight.
Each summer season, roughly 70 members of the New York Air Nationwide Guard fly to Pitafik to assist the science mission. It’ll use the LC-130, the US army’s solely ski-equipped plane, to supply researchers and provides to ice sheet camps.
Pituffik is Greenland’s solely US army base.
historical past
The presence of American troops in Greenland started throughout World Warfare II, when Greenland was a Danish colony. After Nazi Germany took over Denmark in 1940, Greenland all of the sudden grew to become remoted and susceptible. The US made a quiet cope with the Danish ambassador in Washington, who bypassed the German-controlled authorities in Copenhagen, to ensure that the US army to construct airfields and climate stations on the island.
By 1941, US forces had landed, arrange defenses and scanned the North Atlantic for German submarines. Ten years later, Denmark and the USA formalized the association in a protection treaty that acknowledged Washington’s broad proper to function army services on the island. Greenland is now a semi-autonomous a part of Denmark and, just like the US, it’s a NATO nation.
Through the Chilly Warfare, Thule grew to become an necessary ahead put up within the Arctic Circle. From right here, long-range American bombers have been in a position to arrive within the Soviet Union, and large-scale radar techniques have been constructed to detect missiles crossing polar areas. That is the shortest path between two superpowers.
One of many strangest experiments of the period was CAMP Century, a nuclear powered base constructed underneath the ice within the late Fifties as a part of a secret challenge referred to as Iceworm. The plan was to check whether or not nuclear missiles might be hidden and launched from beneath the floor.
“It was probably the most wild Chilly Warfare ambition,” Rasmussen stated. “They constructed nuclear-powered bases to see if they may try this in one of the hostile environments on the planet.”
The ice turned out to be too unstable and the bottom was deserted. Nevertheless, waste containing radioactive materials and diesel continues to be buried, and scientists warn that warming temperatures might in the end expose it.
The bottom additionally left a everlasting mark on Greenland’s Indigenous peoples. In 1953, about 130 Inuits have been compelled to maneuver from their houses close to Tortoise to extra extreme settlements additional north, making them insufficient for conventional looking. The compensation was made a long time later, however the resentment stays.
The bottom’s identify modified from Thule to Pituffik two years in the past. This implies “the place to tie the canine” in Greenlandic.
place
Pituffik is above the 76th parallel on Greenland’s northwest coast, roughly 750 miles from the Arctic. It is among the most distant army services on the planet.
The closest settlement, Qaanaaq, is greater than 70 miles away and homes lower than 650 folks. Many looking seals, walruses, and typically polar bears to outlive.
In winter, the solar goes out for a number of weeks and temperatures drop beneath minus 30 Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius). Regardless of the situations, the Pituffik airfield runs all 12 months spherical. The ship can solely attain the bottom throughout slim summer season home windows the place sea ice quickly retreats.
Base expertise
Pituffik is a part of the worldwide net of US protection infrastructure and important stations. Navy consultants say Pituffik’s early warning system is crucial as new threats like Hello-sonic missiles emerge.
“Deferred missiles won’t enter area. They fly low, pilot and haven’t any approach to intercept them as soon as fired,” defined Troy J. Bufard, a retired US Military officer and Arctic protection skilled. “It makes early warning extra necessary than ever, and that is the place Pituffik is available in.”
If the missile was launched from Russia or China in the direction of North America, he stated it was, in all probability more likely to cross by means of the Arctic.
In that case, Pituffik’s floor sensors are essential, Bouffard stated.
Lasers additionally don’t work within the Arctic, he added. “The air columns are stuffed with ice crystals (mainly small mirrors), and lasers and mirrors do not work,” he stated.
Bouffard believes Pituffik’s function is increasing past radar.
“It might additionally function an ahead staging base or a key line of communication,” he stated. “The additional these locations go, the extra helpful they turn into.”
