19
JAN
2026
The Bundeswehr has been expanding its activities in the Far North for quite some time. A first big step after cautious beginnings [1] was the participation of German soldiers in brigade strength in Trident Juncture in 2018, a large-scale NATO maneuver in Norway, which was intended to test the operational readiness of the NATO Response Force and the NATO "spearhead" (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, VJTF), which was then led by a German officer. As part of the war exercise, warships and fighter jets also operated on Swedish and Finnish territory. 2] The Bundeswehr's participation in further maneuvers followed. After the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, the militarization of the Far North in Europe intensified a further step. 3] "German soldiers, including mountain rangers and marine infantry, now regularly participate in maneuvers such as 'Nordic Response'," it says; "Navy units were sent to the Arctic Ocean to shoot missiles."[ 4] All this is directed against Russia, which borders Finland and Norway in the far north. Relatively close to Northern Finland and Northern Norway is the Russian peninsula of Kola, where the Russian North Fleet maintains its headquarters. There are also nuclear-armed submarines, which form part of Russia's second strike capability.
In addition, the Bundeswehr operates more and more often in the far north of the Atlantic and in the European North Sea. Also this is directed solely against Russia. This has to do with the sea route, which warships and especially submarines of the Russian Northern Fleet have to travel if they want to get from the Kola Peninsula through the European North Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. There they could attack the transatlantic supply routes from North America to Europe. That is why NATO is trying to control the sea route there, which leads either west or east of Iceland - through the "GIUK gap" between Greenland, Iceland and Great Britain (United Kingdom). NATO maneuvers take place regularly there, such as the Dynamic Mongoose exercise, which focuses on submarine hunting.[ 5] The Bundeswehr participates in it again and again. In October, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was in Iceland's capital Reykjavík to talk to the country's Foreign Minister, Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, about more intensive cooperation. He said that Germany would "increase its military presence on the island". Above all, the new remote sea reconnaissance aircraft P-8A Poseidon of the German Navy are to operate from Iceland. 6]
In order to expand military cooperation in the North Atlantic, the Federal Republic has also begun to cooperate more intensively with Canada. Germany, Canada and Norway agreed at the NATO summit in July 2024 to establish a "security partnership for the North Atlantic". In 2025, Denmark was the fourth country to join it. For the Bundeswehr, the "security partnership" is associated above all with more intensive cooperation with the Canadian armed forces. In August, for the first time, a German warship took part in Canada's annual naval maneuver Nanook-Tuugaalik with the Einsatzgrupperversorger Berlin. Germany, Canada and Norway will hold joint training and exercise measures in the future and expand the exchange of maritime reconnaissance data. 7] In addition, a stronger armaments cooperation is being discussed; Canada is considering - instead of a US submarine, which was temporarily in discussion - the purchase of German submarines 212 CD, which ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has developed together with Norway and which, in addition to the German Navy, also procures the Norwegian Navy. Great Britain is also increasingly being involved in the cooperation. At the British military base Lossiemouth northeast of the Scottish city of Inverness - as in Iceland - German sea reconnaissance are to be stationed as in Iceland. 8]
Since mid-2025, Berlin has been incorporating Greenland to a certain extent in the Bundeswehr's operational area. In mid-August, a German warship arrived in Nuuk for the first time with the Einsatzgrupper supplier Berlin, which was on its way to Canada - for the Nanook-Tuugaalik maneuver. Officially, this happened as part of exercises in the GIUK gap for the fight against Russian submarines.[ 9] On 18. On August 1, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Ministry of Defense, Nils Schmid, was in Nuuk for talks with Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeld. In September, the Arctic Light maneuver followed, in which five NATO countries from Europe participated; Denmark and France provided warships and military aircraft, while Germany, Norway and Sweden sent troops and observers.[ 10] These maneuvers were also officially directed against Russia: Moscow has in fact begun to expand its military activities in the Arctic, which is because the ice is melting there and Russia has an extraordinarily long Arctic coast, which it must be able to defend in view of the tensions with the NATO residents. The war exercises in and near Greenland also had this in mind.
However, with regard to the threats of annexation by US President Donald Trump, it could also be interpreted as a hint to the United States that Greenland is being defended in principle by the European NATO countries - against any attacker. This also applies to the recent deployment of military personnel to Greenland. Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced on Wednesday that the Danish armed forces, together with those of other NATO countries, would explore in the coming weeks how an increased military presence in the Arctic could be realized. 11] In the following days, soldiers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and Germany arrived in Nuuk for initial explorations. The Bundeswehr participated with 15 soldiers until Sunday. In the coming weeks, plans for exercises and other operations in Greenland are to be developed.
Beyond the fact that the activities in and near Greenland strengthen NATO's positions in the Arctic vis-à-vis Russia, no one assumes that the European states could prevail militarily against the USA if they decide to annex Greenland. However, the presence of European troops increases the price that the Trump administration would have to pay for the conquest of the Danish island. In this regard, Trump announced on Saturday that all imports from the eight states that sent soldiers to Greenland would be seten from the 1st. February customs duties of an additional 10, from the 1st June of 25 percent and maintain it until Greenland becomes part of the United States. The eight affected countries have now turned to this on Sunday with a statement in which it says: "We are determined to preserve our sovereignty." In addition, they warn of the "risk of escalation". 12] The conflict is escalating. german-foreign-policy.com reports tomorrow, Tuesday.
More on the topic: War exercises in Greenland.
[1] S. to it Ice Cold Geopolitics (II).
[2] S. The time of the major maneuvers.
[3] S. "The dominance in the Arctic".
[4] European soldiers for Greenland. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 16.01.2026.
[5] S. about NATO on submarine hunting.
[6] S. to the area of operation North Atlantic.
[7], [8] S. to this From the east to the north flank.
[9] S. on war exercises in Greenland.
[10] Danish-led Arctic Light 2025 Strengthens Allied Readiness in High North. ac.nato.int 18.09.2025.
[11] Hilde-Gunn Bye, Birgitte Annie Hansen: Agreed to Increase Military Exercise Activity in Greenland. highnorthnews.com 15.01.2026.
[12] Statement by Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.