First Danish F-35s touch down in Greenland for NATO drills

Two Danish aircraft arrived at Kangerlussuaq on September 16, according to a statement from the Danish armed forces the following day. Four US F-16s and a pair of Canadian CF-18s also landed at the site. The Danish jets made the journey from Keflavik in Iceland, while their North American partners operated out of Goose Bay in Canada.

A French MRTT tanker refuelled the F-35s during their transit from Iceland. Meanwhile, a NATO AWACS aircraft managed and monitored the airspace, supported by a Danish Challenger on standby for search and rescue. The exercise required crews to synchronise flights launching from widely separated bases. This planning was inherently complicated by the region’s rapidly changing weather and a scarcity of suitable airfields.

Although this marked the first time Denmark’s F-35s landed on the island, it was not their first mission in Greenlandic airspace. The fighters had already conducted training flights over the southeast region in January, and the country’s older F-16s have historically operated from Kangerlussuaq. Officials emphasised that this was strictly a training deployment from Iceland rather than the establishment of a permanent F-35 base in Greenland.

The deployment was part of Arctic Sentry, a NATO initiative designed to coordinate allied military operations in the High North. The programme launched in February under the leadership of the US-based Joint Force Command Norfolk. The alliance views increased Russian military activity and growing Chinese interest as primary security challenges in the region.

These drills took place just days before the September 22 agreement between the United States, Denmark and Greenland to expand the American military footprint on the island. The trilateral deal strictly preserves Danish sovereignty and follows months of diplomatic tension sparked by Donald Trump’s calls to purchase the autonomous territory.