Denmark leads military exercise in seas off Greenland's coast

(16 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nuuk, Greenland - 15 September 2025
1. Wide of Danish F-16 fighter jets flyby, pan left
2. Mid of ship firing gun ++SPLIT SCREEN WITH SHOT3++
3. Close of ship firing gun
4. Mid of soldiers roping down from helicopter
5. Wide of soldiers roping down from helicopter on ship
6. SOUNDBITE (English): Major General Søren Andersen, chief of Denmark's Arctic Command: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT4 AND SPLIT SCREEN WITH SHOT5 AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT7-13++
“I think it’s fair to say that Russia has built up in the Arctic for the last 20 years. And Russia is a regional superpower in the Arctic. And I think we can see that in the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, that they conduct operations that we have never seen before. We see that they work together with Chinese coastguard ships and so on, so forth. We can see it also north of Norway and down along Norway’s west coast into the Baltic Sea area, also with the shadow fleet, that Russia has changed their behaviour.”
7. Mid of soldiers storming ship, holding weapons
8. Wide of ship deck with soldiers
9. Wide of Arctic Ocean and ship front with gun turret
10. Close of radar screen on bridge
11. Mid of soldier using binoculars
12. Wide of ships and soldiers on deck
13. Close of unit patches on uniform
STORYLINE:
Denmark is leading a military exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Greenland, amid months of tensions over the Trump administration's desire for US jurisdiction over the vast Arctic territory.

The Arctic Light 2025 exercise, which follows manoeuvers with identical or similar titles in previous years, involves more than 550 service members from Denmark and NATO allies France, Germany, Sweden and Norway, according to the Danish military.

Its stated aim is to strengthen the operational readiness of the Danish armed forces around Greenland, a strategically located island that is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

The military says its personnel is training along with allies to reinforce “their joint response capabilities against destabilising threats to Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.”

Russian military operations in the Arctic are of particular concern.

Major General Søren Andersen, chief of Denmark's Arctic Command, said Russia had been building up its capabilities in the Arctic for the last 20 years.

"Russia is a regional superpower in the Arctic. And I think we can see that in the Bering strait between Alaska and Russia, that they conduct operations that we have never seen before," he said.

Denmark is moving to strengthen its military presence around Greenland.

In late January, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion kroner (2.3 billion US dollar) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”

Those will include three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.

In the Arctic Light exercise, which started September 9 and ends on Friday, Denmark is deploying a frigate, two helicopters, two F-16 fighter jets and personnel from all three branches of the armed forces, including special forces.

The French navy is sending a tanker aircraft and mountain infantry equipped with drones.

The Danish military didn't mention the current tensions with Washington.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he seeks US jurisdiction over Greenland.
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