According to a NORAD post on X, the exercise is a routine activity conducted under enduring defense cooperation agreements between the United States, Canada, and Denmark, with Greenland as an autonomous territory. The activity comes amid political sensitivity, as Donald Trump has pushed for U.S. ownership of Greenland, despite Denmark offering to expand the American military presence without transferring sovereignty.
NORAD emphasized the exercise’s routine nature and declined to disclose how many U.S. aircraft are involved. “We regularly coordinate these types of activities,” a NORAD spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine, adding that the exercise had been planned for roughly a year.
The NORAD post stated: “This activity has been coordinated with the Kingdom of Denmark, and all supporting forces operate with the requisite diplomatic clearances.” It added: “The Government of Greenland is also informed of planned activities.”
The United States has maintained long-standing security cooperation with Greenland, where U.S. forces have conducted strategic missions for decades, said Charles Galbreath of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He noted that the base, formerly Thule Air Base, supports missile warning and satellite command and control missions critical to detecting potential threats from adversaries.
“So, if China launches a satellite or a fractional orbital bombardment system that goes over the North Pole, they’re going to see it,” Galbreath said. He added that regardless of whether oversight falls under U.S. European Command or U.S. Northern Command, “It still has the same mission. The mission has not changed.”
In addition to Space Force operations, Pituffik regularly hosts Air Force aircraft for Arctic exercises. NORAD deployments in 2023 and 2025 included F-35s, F-16s, and KC-135 tankers supporting exercises such as Operation Noble Defender, demonstrating the U.S. military’s ability to operate in extreme Arctic conditions.
Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine.
