Jan. 15, 2026Updated Jan. 16, 2026, 12:27 p.m. ETAs President Donald Trump continues to insist that the United States must take control of Greenland, federal officials are quietly preparing to pour tens of millions of dollars of upgrades into the sole American military base on the icy Arctic island.Among the upgrades American military officials are planning are improvements to Pituffik Space Base’s two-mile-long runway, a new boat to keep the port clear of icebergs and a slew of facility upgrades, including repairs to the Dundas dining facility. Today, about 150 American military personnel are stationed at the Cold War-era base formerly known at Thule Air Force Base, joined by hundreds of Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic military and contractors.The base (pronounced bee-doo-FEEK) was renamed in 2023 during the Biden administration to pay homage to the native Greenlandic people and culture. It’s home to the northernmost deepwater port run by the Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense, and Trump sees control of the entire island as key to American security.Visual story: Trump’s Greenland gambit explained with maps”The United States needs Greenland,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 14 social media post.Cold War-era military planners built the base there, with Danish permission, because it’s halfway between Moscow and Washington. Greenland is a self-governing country that’s part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is itself a member of NATO, and thus an ally of the United States.While few details of the exact Pituffik base work have been made public, the improvements come during a time of intense focus on the glacier-covered island where temperatures routinely drop to -50 during the polar night darkness, which lasts more than three months a year. The base is on the island’s western edge, close to Canada’s Baffin Bay area, and about 1,000 miles from the island’s capital of Nuuk.None of the base improvements, which USA TODAY reviewed via federal purchasing systems, appear to signal a significant increase in size or change in mission. The runway upgrades, for instance, include improvements to the landing and taxiway lighting systems, a critical component given the facility is in darkness for long stretches but depends heavily on resupply flights from the U.S. mainland.But notes in the contracting materials also reference classified work that might be performed by the U.S. military or specialized contractors.Several of the projects have not yet been formally awarded to contractors, in part because the logistics of getting materials and people to the base during the short summer construction window. The contracts call for using engineers and other experts licensed in Denmark.Because the winter dark is so oppressive to some people, the base uses “happy lamps” to simulate the sun and stave off seasonal affective disorder. In the summer, base personnel cover their windows with blackout shades because the sun doesn’t set for nearly four months.U.S. military officials did not return a request for comment on the projects.Today, Pituffik’s stated public mission is to host military personal who coordinate satellite communications and monitor for ballistic missile launches, while also monitoring near-Earth space. Base officials have previously said their systems can detect a piece of metal the size of a softball from 3,000 miles away.During the Cold War, military planners used Pituffik as a staging point for a test of Project Iceworm, which would have secretly buried nuclear missile silos beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The effort was abandoned after scientists discovered the ice sheets moved faster than expected.Trump and some military experts argue Greenland will play an increasing role in national security as Russia and China more aggressively explore and patrol Arctic regions. Climate change is weakening the sea ice that typically surrounds Greenland in the winter, allowing more ships to travel the Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia via Alaska and the Bering Sea.Additionally, Greenland has deposits of rare earth minerals used to make smartphones, MRI machines and high-tech weapons systems.The facility is jointly staffed by the U.S. and Danish military, and the Trump administration last April fired the base commander over comments she made to staff and contractors following a controversial Greenland trip by Vice President JD Vance. White House officials indicated they felt the base commander’s message of unity, which she sent to the multinational workers, undermined Trump’s position.
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