NEW YORK, October 24. /TASS/. The air defense systems stationed at the US military base Pituffik in Greenland are unable to protect the facility from hypersonic missiles, Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has said.
"The US does not have a standing integrated air and missile defense shooter layer in Greenland today. The new and future threat of hypersonic cruise missiles has changed everything because the existing defense system cannot defend against them," Bouffard said in an interview with the weekly Defense News.
Hypersonic missiles, in particular, can hit local radar stations that serve to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads aimed at the United States. Previously, in his article for Small Wars Journal, Bouffard advocated the deployment of a "comprehensive, layered" air and missile defense in Greenland, as the units stationed there are better suited for ground defense. This could include deliveries of American Patriot air defense systems (SAMs), as well as Norwegian NASAMS SAMs and SHORAD short- and ultra-short-range air defense systems. The main problem, according to Bouffard, is that Greenland's climate could significantly reduce the radar's performance.
On June 17, the Pentagon added Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and therefore subordinate to NATO's Supreme Allied Command Europe, to the US Northern Command’s area of responsibility. Washington's decision will strengthen the US military's ability to defend the continental United States, and will also "contribute to a more robust defense of the western hemisphere and deepening relationships with Arctic allies and partners," the Pentagon stated. According to Politico, the United States did not notify the Danish government of its plans.