As President Donald Trump continues to argue the United States should take control of Greenland, federal officials are moving ahead with plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in upgrades at the only American military installation on the Arctic island.
The planned work at Pituffik Space Base includes improvements to the base’s two-mile runway, a new boat designed to help keep the port clear of icebergs, and a range of facility repairs and upgrades—among them work on the Dundas dining facility. Roughly 150 U.S. service members are stationed at the Cold War-era site, alongside hundreds of Canadian, Danish, and Greenlandic personnel and contractors.
Pituffik (pronounced “bee-doo-FEEK”) was renamed in 2023 to honor Greenland’s Indigenous culture. The base sits on Greenland’s western side near Baffin Bay and is about 1,000 miles from Nuuk, the island’s capital.
Trump has framed Greenland as central to U.S. security, writing in a Jan. 14 social media post: “The United States needs Greenland.”
Upgrades focus on capability—not expansion
Publicly available procurement documents reviewed through federal purchasing systems suggest the projects are aimed at sustaining and improving existing operations—not dramatically expanding the base or altering its mission.
One example: planned runway work includes updates to landing and taxiway lighting, a critical safety component at a location that experiences months of darkness during the polar night and depends heavily on regular resupply flights from the U.S. mainland.
At the same time, contracting notes also reference classified work that could be carried out by the U.S. military or specialized contractors.
Several projects have not yet been awarded, in part because moving materials and people to the base is difficult and must be timed around a short summer construction window. The contracts also call for engineers and other specialists licensed in Denmark.
U.S. military officials did not respond to a request for comment about the projects.
Life at Pituffik: extreme dark, extreme light
Conditions at the base are harsh and unusual even by Arctic standards. Temperatures can drop to -50 during the long winter darkness. To help personnel cope, the base uses “happy lamps” that mimic sunlight to reduce seasonal affective disorder. In summer, when daylight can last for nearly four months, some residents cover windows with blackout shades because the sun barely sets.
Why the base matters
Pituffik’s publicly stated mission is to support operations tied to satellite communications and missile warning—monitoring for ballistic missile launches and tracking near-Earth space. Base officials have previously said their systems can detect an object as small as a softball from 3,000 miles away.
The location has long been strategically important. During the Cold War, it served as a key node between North America and the Soviet Union, and planners later explored Project Iceworm—a plan to hide nuclear missile silos beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. The effort was abandoned after scientists concluded the ice moved faster than expected.
Arctic competition, shipping routes, and minerals
Trump and some defense analysts argue Greenland’s strategic value is rising as Russia and China expand Arctic activity. Warming temperatures and changing sea ice patterns may also increase maritime traffic through routes such as the Northwest Passage, potentially reshaping global shipping.
Greenland is also known to have deposits of rare earth minerals used in products like smartphones and MRI machines, as well as in advanced weapons systems.
Multinational base, political tension
The installation is jointly staffed by U.S. and Danish forces. The Trump administration last April fired the base commander after comments she made to staff and contractors following a controversial Greenland trip by Vice President JD Vance. White House officials indicated they believed her message of unity to multinational personnel undermined Trump’s political position on Greenland.
