Latest news with #RoyalDanishDefenceCollege
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Changing face of war puts Denmark on drone offensive
As drones transform the face of war from Ukraine to Gaza, Denmark is opening a military drone testing centre to develop cutting-edge technology and boost its national defence. It will be based at Hans Christian Andersen airport in Odense, already home to one of Europe's biggest airspaces dedicated to drone testing. It has almost 2,000 square kilometres (775 square miles) at its disposal over land and sea at the UAS Denmark Test Centre. "The Danish drone industry and also the academic environment around drones is quite unique for the size of a country like Denmark," Andreas Graae, a military technology researcher and assistant professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP. Denmark's defence ministry announced in late March that it would allocate 725 million kroner ($110 million) for the new military drone testing centre, drawing on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. By 2026, around 100 Danish military personnel will be training there as drone operators. The centre will also collaborate with companies and researchers to keep Denmark on the cutting edge of drone technology. For Jerome Jouffroy, a professor of mechanical and electrical engineering at the University of Southern Denmark, the opening of the military drone centre "is fantastic". It will enable him to focus his research on the military's specific needs. "Sometimes we can be in a bit of a fishbowl," he said. "We try to invent solutions, but are these really what's going to be most interesting in the combat of the future?" he added. The centre, he added, "will give me some tactical knowledge: How are drones used? What are actually the best technologies we can develop for operations?" - 'Dehumanised' warfare - Outside the premises of the Quadsat company on a recent spring day, drones equipped with satellite reading software solutions buzzed loudly as they took off and landed in gusty winds. Founded a decade ago, the Danish start-up manufactures drones that monitor and manage the radio spectrum. Used in a military setting -- Quadsat has a partnership in Ukraine -- its devices can be used to identify enemy radar systems. "What our technology can do is to go out and pinpoint where these emissions are coming from and how they are moving about, and it gives a new layer of intelligence on the battlefield," Quadsat chief executive and co-founder Joakim Espeland told AFP. The war in Ukraine has clearly contributed to the booming drone industry. "Almost 70 percent of the losses in Ukraine are due to drones," researcher Graae said. "In the Danish defence industry... we're seeing growth especially in software companies, but also robotics and drone companies," he said. Jouffroy said the military drone hub would contribute to advances in European technology. When it comes to components, high-end technology comes primarily from the United States while the lower-end is mainly sourced from China, he said. "So how do we Europeans, in between Trump and China, place ourselves to develop our own technology?" he asked. Graae expected significant investment in the drone sector, as well as the traditional defence material Denmark is acquiring to beef up its military. He expected a growing share of warfare to be conducted by unmanned systems like drones. "I think we're looking at a frontline that's becoming more and more dehumanised," Graae said. "Drones and also unmanned ground vehicles are slowly taking over some parts of the frontline." cbw/ef/po/jj/rjm
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Danish PM in 'unity' Greenland visit amid US takeover threats
Denmark's prime minister will aim to shore up a united front with Greenland on Thursday during a visit to the autonomous territory, which US President Donald Trump has vowed to take over. Tensions between the United States and Denmark have soared since Trump has said repeatedly he wanted to take control of the resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons. "It is clear that with the pressure put on Greenland by the Americans, in terms of sovereignty, borders and the future, we need to stay united," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday after arriving on the island for a three-day visit. Frederiksen's visit comes on the heels of a trip by US Vice President JD Vance last week that both Nuuk and Copenhagen viewed as a provocation. It also follows the formation of a new Greenland coalition government led by the centre-right Democrats party, which won a general election in March. "I have but one wish and that is to do all that I can to take care of this marvellous country and to support it at a difficult time," Frederiksen said. Observers say her visit will reassure the island of 57,000 people, the vast majority of whom, polls show, want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the United States. "I think it's very, very important and it's very reassuring for Greenlanders to see a Danish head of government," Mikaela Engell, an expert on the Arctic territory who previously served as Denmark's High Commissioner to Greenland, told AFP. Earlier this year, "the Danish government was almost invisible," she said, describing Copenhagen's efforts as tip-toeing, trying to accommodate US interests and not antagonise Trump. But after the general election and Vance's visit, the "gloves have come off," Engell said. Marc Jacobsen, a researcher at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP that the visit would give Denmark an opportunity "to show coherence, to show support, to talk about what can they do more concretely, both in terms of how to respond to the United States, but also in terms of concrete cooperation investments." - Elephant in the room - Frederiksen is also expected to maintain the position laid out earlier by Denmark's foreign minister "that it is possible to enhance US military presence" under a 1951 defence agreement. During his visit last week to the Pituffik military base, Vance castigated Denmark for not having "done a good job by the people of Greenland," by allegedly under investing in security. Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded in a post on social media that "We are open to criticisms, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered." Denmark's foreign ministry has said efforts are underway to set up a meeting between Lokke and his US counterpart Marco Rubio at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers this week in Brussels, but "neither Greenland nor the Arctic are planned to be discussed". "It will be the elephant in the room, right?" Jacobsen said. "But the thing is that if they were to talk about the Arctic and Greenland, then someone from the Greenland government should be present, that's the agreement between Denmark and Greenland," he said. According to The Washington Post, the White House is currently estimating the cost for the US federal government to control Greenland, and the potential revenues it could derive from exploiting its largely untapped natural resources. cbw/jll/yad
Al Jazeera
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Will Donald Trump take Greenland by force?
Donald Trump has his eyes on Greenland. The US president says the semi-autonomous Danish territory is crucial to US national security and that Washington should take it over. Trump's comments have raised alarms in Greenland, particularly after US Vice President JD Vance announced he would visit the island. Greenland is rich in minerals, and it's strategically located. But its people say their territory is not for sale. So, will this threat further alienate the US's European allies? And how far is Trump willing to go to get what he wants? Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam Guests: Marc Jacobsen – Associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College Jim Townsend – Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security Ed Arnold – Research fellow for European Security at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank Pele Broberg – Leader of the pro-independence Naleraq party in Greenland
Iraqi News
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Denmark welcomes US limiting Greenland visit to military base
Copenhagen – Denmark welcomed on Wednesday Washington's decision to limit a US delegation's visit to Greenland to a US military base, after previous plans for the unexpected trip sparked criticism. US Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that he would accompany his wife Usha on Friday to the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, the Danish self-governing island coveted by President Donald Trump. Since returning to power in January, Trump has insisted he wants to take over Greenland for national security purposes, refusing to rule out the use of force to do so. Vance's announcement came just hours after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede harshly criticised plans by a US delegation to visit the Arctic island uninvited. Egede had qualified the initial plans as 'foreign interference', noting that the outgoing government had not 'sent out any invitations for visits, private or official'. Following March 11 elections, Greenland has only a transitional government, with parties still in negotiations to form a new coalition government. 'We have asked all countries to respect this process,' Egede had said in a Facebook post. Yet the White House announced Sunday that Usha Vance would travel to Greenland from Thursday to Saturday, while Egede had said US national security adviser Mike Waltz was also expected to take part. US media had reported that Energy Secretary Chris Wright would be part of the visit as well. Usha Vance had been scheduled to view 'historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage and watch the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland's national dogsled race,' in the southwestern town of Sisimiut, the White House had said. Frederiksen denounced that visit as 'unacceptable pressure' being put on Greenland and Denmark, and vowed 'to resist'. – 'Very positive' – JD Vance said in a video statement that he and Usha would travel only to the Pituffik base to visit US Space Force members based there and 'check out what's going on with the security' of Greenland. 'I think it's very positive that the Americans have cancelled their visit among Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,' Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told public broadcaster DR on Wednesday. 'The cars (from the US advance security detail) that were delivered a few days ago are in the process of being sent back home, and the wife of the US vice president and the national security adviser will not visit Greenlandic society,' Lokke Rasmussen said. 'The matter is being wound up and that's positive,' he added. A US Hercules plane later took off from Nuuk airport, according to flight tracking website Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, said the US change of plan was a 'de-escalation' aimed at saving face after Danish and Greenlandic leaders made it clear the US officials were not welcome. Locals in Sisimiut, Greenland's second-biggest town of 5,500 people, had announced a protest during Usha Vance's visit, following another anti-US protest outside the US consulate in Nuuk on March 15. 'They didn't want to risk… photos being shown to US voters on social media,' Jacobsen told AFP. Jacobsen also dismissed Vance's claims in his video announcement that other countries were trying to use the territory to 'threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and, of course, to threaten the people of Greenland'. 'The only country threatening Greenland, that's actually the US,' Jacobsen said. 'If he meant China or Russia, they're not threatening Greenland. They have no interest in attacking Greenland.' A self-governing territory that is seeking to emancipate itself from Copenhagen, Greenland holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, though oil and uranium exploration are banned. It is also strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change. Greenland's location also puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States. Greenlandic officials have repeatedly said the territory does not want to be either Danish or American, but is 'open for business' with everyone. According to opinion polls, most Greenlanders support independence from Denmark but not annexation by Washington.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pituffik, the key US air base at the top of the world
The United States military's northernmost base, Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, is a crucial cog in Washington's missile defences which US Vice President JD Vance will visit on Friday. Vance's visit has thrust the remote Arctic base into the spotlight, as US President Donald Trump locks horns with Denmark over his public desire to annex Greenland from the Scandinavian country. Located 1,524 kilometres (950 miles) from the North Pole, the base, named Thule Air Base until 2023, began life as a trading post founded by Greenlandic-Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen in 1910 next to a glacier. It was then bought by the Danish state at the beginning of World War II before becoming an American weather station in 1946. Following a defence agreement between the United States and Denmark signed on April 27, 1951 it was made into a military base between 1951 and 1953. Greenland, which receives rent from the US administration, has been a party to this agreement since 2004. The expansion of the station forced inhabitants of Pituffik, the local community, to leave their land for Qaanaaq, 140 kilometres to the north. Their descendants have received apologies and reparations from Denmark, but their ancestral right to the rich hunting and fishing grounds has not been recognised. - Protecting the United States - Trump's administration argues the United States needs strategically placed Greenland, a self-governing Danish island, for security reasons. "Vance refers to the importance of Greenland for US national security. That's true, it's been like that for a very long time," Marc Jacobsen, a researcher at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP. The base's purpose is "to protect the US against threats, especially from Russia since the shortest distance from missiles from Russia towards the US goes via North Pole, via Greenland", according to Jacobsen. The Pituffik base was used as a warning post for possible attacks from the Soviet Union during the Cold War and remains an essential part of the United States' missile defence infrastructure. With its strategic location between North America and Europe the base still plays a surveillance role in the northern hemisphere. At the height of the Cold War, more than 10,000 people were stationed at the base, most of them American, as well as fighter planes and bombers carrying atomic bombs. In 1967, Denmark secretly authorised the United States to station nuclear weapons in Greenland. Officially, Copenhagen has refused to accept any nuclear weapons on Danish territory. But on January 21, 1968, a B-52 plane carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed into the ice, revealing Denmark's dual nuclear policy. Today, the base only houses around 150 US soldiers, alongside Danes and Greenlanders. But it is not so much a question on the number of men as the quality of the equipment, according to Jacobsen. "There are a very important radars there," he said. The radars enable the detection of missiles and activation of counter-measures. The military base, which also has a satellite control station, is operated by the 821st Space Base Group and is the only US military base on the Arctic island. Its runway, some 3,000 metres (9850 feet) long, handles more than 3,000 American and international flights a year. The base is also home to the world's most northerly deep-water port. According to its website, this "provides a unique platform for arctic training, international scientific research and environmental programs". Because of its location north of the Arctic Circle, Pituffik lives in constant darkness between November and February while the sun does not set from May to August. cbw/jll/sbk
