In the middle of a diplomatic crisis with Denmark, US Vice President JD Vance and his wife visited the US military base in Pituffik, Greenland, on Friday, March 28. The visit to a destination 1,500 kilometers from the capital Nuuk means they could avoid local demonstrations from Greenlanders angry at the US administration and its plans to annex their island, and served as a reminder of the essential role played by the autonomous Danish territory in the security of the United States.

With a bowling alley, cinema and even a hotel, Pituffik (formerly Thule Base), where around 150 American soldiers are deployed – compared with 10,000 at the height of the Cold War – is the last American base still operating in Greenland. Located 1,210 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, it houses a giant radar capable of detecting any ballistic missile attack over the North Pole, as well as one of the control centers of the US military satellite network.

While its presence is no longer questioned today, "the base is still very emblematic for the bad blood and unfortunate history surrounding the Danish and the American presence in Greenland," said Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, research director at the Center for Arctic Security Studies in Copenhagen. In an effort to calm the situation, in 2023 the US renamed the former Thule air base Pituffik Space Force Base, after the Greenlandic place where it was built in 1951.

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