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6 August 2004 |
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http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040806173348.8xaxsejr.html |
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IGALIKU, Greenland (AFP) Aug 06, 2004 - The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement here on Friday to modernize a US military air base on this autonomous Danish territory considered a potential key link in a future US missile defense shield. The agreement to upgrade the Thule base in northwestern Greenland and several other accords were signed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Danish and Greenland counterparts Per Stig Moeller and Josef Motzfeldt. "Together we will meet the security challenges of the 21st century, from missile defense to international terrorism," Powell said at the signing ceremony held in Igaliku, a picturesque Inuit village on a fjord with a population of around 40. The main agreement signed Friday calls for upgrading and modernizing systems at Thule, the northernmost installation of the US air force and a key radar facility and listening post. Thule incorporates an alert system aimed at detecting ballistic missiles, a so-called BMEWS, or Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, as well as ICBMs, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The planned modernization of the base's radar, which today covers 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) -- all the way into Russian territory -- has put Thule back on the map as an essential link in a future US missile defense program aimed at protecting the United States from hostile nations. Local Greenland authorities, however, have opposed expanding the use of the base to include the potential to intercept missiles. Powell said talk of interceptors was premature. "Right now we are some distance from determining where we might need interceptors," he told reporters. "There is no plan right now for anything other than what we have already made known to the home-rule government (of Greenland) and Kingdom of Denmark." Moeller, the Danish foreign minister, said Denmark was not fundamentally opposed to missile defense but "we have said yes to that (the agreements signed Friday) and nothing else." Powell, speaking to Greenland television before the signing ceremony, said the United States "don't want to do anything that would put at risk the strong relationship we have had for many, many years." "The updated agreement provides for consultations so that we are partners and we will move forward together," he said. "It allows us to make sure that we are providing for the kinds of threats that the civilized world might see in the future (from rogue states)." The other agreements signed Friday by Powell, the first US secretary of state to visit Greenland, and his Danish and Greenland counterparts involve environmental and technical cooperation and building a mechanism to increase trade and economic ties. The Thule base, just 1,524 kilometers (947 miles) south of the North Pole, was built between 1951 and 1953 under a defense treaty between the United States and Denmark signed on April 27, 1951. At the height of the Cold War and through the end of the 1980s the base housed more than 10,000 employees, mainly Americans, as well as fighter jets and bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs. Today, only about 550 people, 125 of whom are American, remain at Thule. Before signing the agreements, Powell toured Norse ruins dating from 1200 and sat down for a lunch that included local delicacies such as roast musk ox, reindeer steak, trout, smoked salmon, halibut and shrimp. |
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July/August 2004 |
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http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_07-08/GreenlandRadar.asp |
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The Danish parliament has unanimously approved a Bush administration request to upgrade a radar located in Greenland so it can play a future role in a planned U.S. missile defense system. The vote came approximately 18 months after the United States asked Denmark for permission to improve its early-warning radar at Thule Air Base. Greenland used to be a Danish colony until 1979 when it received the right to self-government. Denmark retained responsibility, however, for the island’s defense and foreign policies. Although the proposal sparked some debate in Denmark and Greenland, 101 Danish lawmakers voted May 27 in favor of the move. Ten parliamentarians from two left-wing parties abstained, and 68 legislators were absent. Officials from the U.S. and Danish governments, as well as Greenland’s Home Rule government, plan to codify an agreement covering the radar overhaul later this summer. The agreement will permit the Pentagon to make the Thule radar more capable of guiding U.S. missile interceptors toward ballistic missile warheads traveling through space. Currently, the radar is tasked with spotting launches of foreign ballistic missiles, but not accurately tracking and pinpointing the flight trajectories of the missiles and their payloads. The United States already received permission from the British government to carry out similar work on the Fylingdales radar in the United Kingdom. (See ACT, March 2003.) The Fylingdales radar is expected to be operational before the end of 2005, while the Thule radar will not be ready until at least 2006. The two radars are intended to help the United States track and intercept ballistic missiles launched from the Middle East. No country in that region currently possesses a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
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