The military-grey inspection ships are regularly seen sailing past the fjords and along the coast. But what exactly are their tasks?

The military tasks in Greenland have over time included everything from expeditions, mapping to fisheries inspection and icebreaking.

Some of the tasks are still carried out by the Arctic Command, but the official main task today is to ensure the military defense of Greenland.

This is explained by Peter Krogh, who has been the commander of the inspection ship Vædderen for the past four years.

– But we are not in war or conflict at the moment, so we also have time to solve tasks other than the purely military ones, he says.

We will now delve into what tasks Arctic Command has in Greenland today.

Although it is still a political desire to maintain Greenland and the Arctic as a so-called low-voltage area, it has become a greater challenge – especially after the war in Ukraine and most recently Trump’s desire to buy Greenland.

Right now, the Greenlandic government is negotiating with Denmark and the Faroe Islands to get chapter two of a new, major defense agreement in place, which will increase surveillance and security at home.

There will also be a new fleet plan, which initially promises three new ships to replace the Vædderen and the other three current inspection ships in Greenland.

On June 5, Vivian Motzfeldt (S) and the Danish Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen announced that there will be an increase in the presence of the Danish Armed Forces in the coming months.

With changes, new hardware and better ships just around the corner, it is therefore natural to look at what tasks the Arctic Command and their ships actually have today. Because perhaps they will change.

Surveillance and sovereignty assertion

On the Arctic Command website you can read that Danish soldiers were also present in Greenland back in the 18th century.

A sergeant and twelve soldiers were then supposed to “protect the colonies from plunder by foreign whalers,” it says.

However, a lot has happened in the world since then, and the tasks have changed.

The tasks of the inspection ships in Greenland

Arctic Command, as we know it today, has existed and had its headquarters in Nuuk since 2012.

From here, responsibility for, in particular, maritime surveillance and assertion of sovereignty in the seas around the Faroe Islands and Greenland is managed and distributed.

A total of four Thetis-class inspection ships patrol here year-round: Thetis, Triton, Hvidbjørnen and Vædderen.

The four ships were built in the period from 1989 to 1992.

In addition to military tasks, surveillance and assertion of sovereignty, the ships also have a number of other tasks.

Among other things, sea rescues (SAR), icebreaking, fisheries inspection, oil pollution control, providing support to the police and other authorities and sea surveying.

Arctic Command, as we know it today, has existed and had its headquarters in Nuuk since 2012.

From here, responsibility for, in particular, maritime surveillance and assertion of sovereignty in the seas around the Faroe Islands and Greenland is managed and distributed.

A total of four Thetis-class inspection ships patrol here year-round: Thetis, Triton, Hvidbjørnen and Vædderen.

The four ships were built in the period from 1989 to 1992.

In addition to military tasks, surveillance and sovereignty assertion, the ships also have a number of other tasks.

Among other things, sea rescue (SAR), icebreaking, fisheries inspection, oil pollution response, providing support to police and other authorities, and sea surveying.

Today, surveillance and sovereignty assertion are two core tasks that Arctic Command focuses on during what Commander Captain Peter Krogh calls “peacetime”:

– We make sure that there is no one who is not allowed to be here. At the same time, we monitor the area by patrolling, using our sensors, helicopters and other things, he explains and adds:

– Here we work together with all the other ships and aircraft in the area.

The other inspection ships, in addition to the Aries, are called Thetis, Triton and the White Bear.

SAR-operationer

Another big part of the work when you are part of the crew of one of the four inspection ships in Greenland and the Faroe Islands is SAR operations (Search and Rescue operations).

The SAR service in Greenland is led and organized by the Greenland Police and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC). The JRCC is under the Arctic Command.

Together they are responsible for rescuing people in distress, ships, marine installations, such as oil platforms, and aircraft in Greenland.

For search and rescue, Arctic Command often uses helicopters. The Navy has had a helicopter in Greenland since 1962, and in 2016 the American Seahawk helicopter arrived in Greenland.

With this, the helicopter crew performs so-called hoist operations, where people in the water or on land who need help are hoisted into the helicopter and flown to safety.

Tasks in Change

Commander Captain Peter Krogh has been in the navy for almost 40 years.

According to him, the military tasks that the Navy carries out in Greenland are the same as they always have been.

– They have of course been modernized, as we have received new systems and technologies, he says.

Within the field of work called ‘support for police and other state authorities’, he has noticed a change as more tourists have come to the country.

– We can see that there is an increasing trend of tourists – both on land and on cruise ships – who need assistance, says Commander Peter Krogh.

In addition, since 2020, the Defence Forces have helped the Government of Greenland with combating oil pollution.

– So it’s also a discipline we train, says Peter Krogh.

Whether politicians’ ambitions for a stronger defense in Greenland will lead to new tasks for the crew on board the fleet in Greenland is difficult to predict.

Peter Krogh would rather not bother speculating about that.

However, he hopes that more military tasks will not be necessary.

– It’s very difficult to see how the world is going to develop. I think you’re surprised time and time again, so being prepared is probably the best thing you can be. And that’s what we’re trying to do, he says.

Series: Future Defense in the Arctic

A robust defense in Greenland and the Arctic is central to security in the West, both Trump and politicians here and in Denmark have said time and again. A billion-dollar investment in the navy is therefore close to being launched, and the worn-out ships patrolling in Greenland and the Faroe Islands must be replaced.

KNR has visited one of the old ships that will soon be retired.