The Strategic Importance of Greenland: The Role of Tactical Missile and Air Defense in the Arctic
by Troy Bouffard, by Colonel Steven Phillips (ret.), by Dr. James Morton, by Cameron Carlson
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10.13.2025 at 06:00am
Recent discussions between the United States and Greenland have largely centered on geopolitical issues, but Greenland’s increasing significance in Arctic missile defense demands greater strategic attention. This article examines how Greenland fits into United States (U.S.), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) strategic defense frameworks, highlighting key tactical considerations. This article aims to present essential perspectives on joint and multinational defense considerations. As political debate continues regarding U.S. interests in Greenland, we strive to offer theoretical defense insights deliberately separate from other discourse and unconnected to any specific position.
Geographically, Greenland is becoming an increasingly important location for missile defense-related priorities, including North American Defense, U.S. Homeland Defense, Canadian Defense, and Allied Defense. In the context of the North American Arctic, defense capabilities at the western and eastern flanks are well developed and exercised, particularly regarding the Arctic as an avenue of approach for numerous threats. However, the central sector of North American defense (over-the-pole) has not required comprehensive layered defense until recent years. Adversarial threats that could exploit these central gaps continue to grow, potentially exploiting these gaps with recently developed hypersonic cruise missile variants. Greenland’s location, geography, and intrinsic potential for enhancing North American defense must be more carefully understood in strategic context.
The authors of this article focus on tactical considerations for a potential scenario in which a strengthened U.S.-Greenland strategic partnership presents opportunities for enhanced defense. The defense of Arctic strategic assets demands comprehensive integration of all warfighting physical and non-physical domains. When assessing the full spectrum of combat capabilities required to dominate the Arctic battlespace, northern ballistic missile defense architecture and early warning radar networks are critical strategic centers of gravity. These Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) nodes constitute vital strategic terrain that adversaries will target early, and in various methods. Protection of these strategic assets necessitates layered defensive capabilities, primarily through the deployment of robust, cold-weather-adapted short and medium-range air defense (SHORAD/MRAD) systems. Tactical protective measures must be specifically engineered to maintain operational effectiveness where the Arctic operating environment imposes unique logistical and force-projection challenges that defy traditional defense planning assumptions. Ultimately, success in this theater requires specialized Arctic tactical warfare capabilities and proficiency.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/10/13/greenland-missile-defense-strategy/
