The US Department of Defense’s northernmost installation, Thule Air Base in Greenland, was recently renamed to Pituffik Space Base in a ceremony held on April 6.
The renaming of the base will better reflects its role in the U.S. Space Force, while also recognizing Greenlandic cultural heritage, a press release from the US Space Force states.
Pituffik Space Base is located approximately 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwestern coast of Greenland. Pituffik is the traditional Greenlandic name of the region where the base is located. […]
The United States greatly values the contributions that the Greenlandic people bring to defending the Arctic region and to global security, the Chief of Space Operations said and added that renewed strategic competition in the Arctic can be expected with Russia’s historically significant presence in the region and the People’s Republic of China self-proclaimed near-Arctic power, seeking opportunities to expand its influence. […]
The base was built in 1951 and provides installation support for vital space-based missions, and is home to the DoD’s northernmost deep-water port. It has a 10,000-foot runway, according to the Space Force. The installation plays a key role in the U.S. military’s ability to detect and provide early warnings for ballistic missile attacks.
In a previous interview with HNN, Assistant Professor Marc Jacobsen from the Royal Danish Defence College explained that while Greenland is experiencing more self-determination, its geostrategic importance in the protection against missiles from Russia and so-called rogue states has yet again increased during the past approximately five years.
”Trump’s idea of purchasing Greenland in the summer of 2019 and Pompeo’s infamous speech in Rovaniemi a few months earlier, both exemplify the renewed U.S. geostrategic interest in Greenland and the Arctic. The Biden administration shares the same geostrategic perspective but surely uses much softer rhetoric,” he added. Läs artikel