Once known as the Thule Air Base, the Pituffik Space Base, this Rice-operated installation in northwest Greenland is one of the most strategically important military locations in the world, even if most Americans have never heard of it.
“It's literally the outermost eye of America's defense,” said Rasmussen, Danish defense analyst Peter Elsweden. “Pituffik is where the US can detect launches, calculate trajectories, and activate missile defense systems. It's irreplaceable.”
The former post base is attracting new attention as President Trump, who has vowed to make Greenland a part of the United States, sends a high-level delegation to the island this week. Visitors include Vice President JD Vance, who said he was planning to visit “our guardians” of the Space Force on Tuesday.
Approximately 150 US Air and Space Force personnel are stationed permanently in Pituffik (pronounced bee – doo-feek). They handle missile defense and space surveillance, and upgraded early warning radar based here can detect ballistic missiles at the early moments of flight.
Every summer, approximately 70 members of the New York Air National Guard fly to Pitafik to support the science mission. It will use the LC-130, the US military's only ski-equipped aircraft, to provide researchers and supplies to ice sheet camps.
Pituffik is Greenland's only US military base.
history
The presence of American troops in Greenland began during World War II, when Greenland was a Danish colony. After Nazi Germany took over Denmark in 1940, Greenland suddenly became isolated and vulnerable. The US made a quiet deal with the Danish ambassador in Washington, who bypassed the German-controlled government in Copenhagen, in order for the US military to build airfields and weather stations on the island.
By 1941, US forces had landed, set up defenses and scanned the North Atlantic for German submarines. Ten years later, Denmark and the United States formalized the arrangement in a defense treaty that recognized Washington's broad right to operate military facilities on the island. Greenland is now a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and, like the US, it is a NATO country.
During the Cold War, Thule became an important forward post in the Arctic Circle. From here, long-range American bombers were able to arrive in the Soviet Union, and large-scale radar systems were built to detect missiles crossing polar regions. This is the shortest path between two superpowers.
One of the strangest experiments of the era was CAMP Century, a nuclear powered base built under the ice in the late 1950s as part of a secret project called Iceworm. The plan was to test whether nuclear missiles could be hidden and launched from underneath the surface.
“It was the most wild Cold War ambition,” Rasmussen said. “They built nuclear-powered bases to see if they could do that in one of the most hostile environments on the planet.”
The ice turned out to be too unstable and the base was abandoned. However, waste containing radioactive material and diesel is still buried, and scientists warn that warming temperatures could ultimately expose it.
The base also left a permanent mark on Greenland's Indigenous peoples. In 1953, about 130 Inuits were forced to move from their homes near Tortoise to more severe settlements further north, making them inadequate for traditional hunting. The compensation was made decades later, but the resentment remains.
The base's name changed from Thule to Pituffik two years ago. This means “where to tie the dog” in Greenlandic.
place
Pituffik is above the 76th parallel on Greenland's northwest coast, approximately 750 miles from the Arctic. It is one of the most distant military facilities on the planet.
The closest settlement, Qaanaaq, is more than 70 miles away and houses less than 650 people. Many hunting seals, walruses, and sometimes polar bears to survive.
In winter, the sun goes out for several weeks and temperatures drop below minus 30 Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius). Despite the conditions, the Pituffik airfield runs all year round. The ship can only reach the base during narrow summer windows where sea ice temporarily retreats.
Base technology
Pituffik is part of the global web of US defense infrastructure and critical stations. Military experts say Pituffik's early warning system is essential as new threats like Hi-sonic missiles emerge.
“Deferred missiles will not enter space. They fly low, pilot and have no way to intercept them once fired,” explained Troy J. Bufard, a retired US Army officer and Arctic defense expert. “It makes early warning more important than ever, and that's where Pituffik comes in.”
If the missile was launched from Russia or China towards North America, he said it was, probably likely to pass through the Arctic.
In that case, Pituffik's ground sensors are very important, Bouffard said.
Lasers also do not work in the Arctic, he added. “The air columns are full of ice crystals (basically small mirrors), and lasers and mirrors don't work,” he said.
Bouffard believes Pituffik's role is expanding beyond radar.
“It could also serve as an forward staging base or a key line of communication,” he said. “The further these places go, the more useful they become.”
