Does Trump’s Golden Dome Missile Defense System Really Need Greenland? – Analysis
Donald Trump has found a new argument to justify his ambition to take control of Greenland. The territory, currently under Danish sovereignty, is "vital for the Golden Dome we are building," Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday, January 14.
This is the first time Trump has mentioned this reason. This time, the White House tenant is incorporating Greenland into a concrete project. Nevertheless, the specifics of the Golden Dome defense system remain unclear.
This project, announced in May 2025 by Donald Trump, is inspired by the Israeli air defense system and aims to protect U.S. territory from intercontinental ballistic missiles that could come from Russia, China, or any other country that is not on good terms with the United States. The Golden Dome project is still in the preparatory phase, and no one knows if it will ever see the light of day. The main obstacle to its implementation is the estimated cost of over $170 billion.
On paper, this Trumpian version of Ronald Reagan's “Star Wars” project is ambitious, to say the least. Its main feature is an early threat detection system based on a constellation of satellites in space. The interceptors, the equivalent of anti-missile missiles, would also be launched from space.
Therefore, it is a defense "dome" primarily built in space. But Greenland is located on Earth... In reality, ground structures will still be needed for communication between space- and ground-based elements and to house some interceptor launchers.
Why Greenland rather than New York State?
This is how Donald Trump established Greenland as an essential part of the Golden Dome's terrestrial architecture. This has left experts completely baffled. They have no idea why the U.S. president believes he needs Greenland to build this defense system.
In fact, the Department of Defense has already mapped out potential locations for the Golden Dome's land-based infrastructure. Until January 14, Greenland was not one of them. New York State has been identified as an ideal location for an East Coast interceptor base. The Pentagon has allocated $25 million to develop the base within Fort Drum, a military base located near the Canadian border.
Greenland has a potential advantage over Fort Drum because it is located more than 3,000 kilometers from the U.S. east coast. Its location further north and closer to Russia could enable a faster response time for detecting and intercepting missiles, especially if they were launched from the United States' former Cold War rival.
The Pituffik Space Base is sufficient
This doesn't mean that the U.S. must take over all of Greenland to build part of the Golden Dome there. The U.S. already has the Pituffik Space Base on site, and many experts believe it could be sufficient.
The base is currently used for early missile detection, and a 1951 agreement between the U.S. and Denmark, revised in 2004, permits Washington to develop the base as it sees fit for security reasons, provided Denmark and Greenland agree.
Denmark has historically been very accommodating to Washington's requests regarding the Pituffik Space Base. In the current diplomatic and geopolitical context, Copenhagen should not logically oppose such a plan. This is especially true if it allows Greenland to escape American control. Therefore, there is nothing to prevent Donald Trump from transforming the Pituffik Space Base into the eastern spearhead of the Golden Dome.
However, Trump does not want to ask Denmark for anything. Only the purchase of Greenland would put the United States in this position. Americans are always nitpicky about national security issues. Washington may want to carry out such a sensitive project on territory that is 100% American, even though requesting authorization from Copenhagen would not require the United States to share details about its plans for the Pituffik Space Base.
Donald Trump is more likely to have invoked the Golden Dome to sell his plan to acquire Greenland to the American public. According to a new Ipsos poll published on Thursday, January 15, only 17% of Americans support Trump's ambition.
Trump probably believes it's more popular to claim that the United States needs Greenland to protect Chicago or another major American city from Russian or Chinese missiles than to admit he wants the territory for its natural resources.
But what if the explanation for this new argument to justify the acquisition of Greenland were much more prosaic? Perhaps we're dealing with a malicious narcissist—a former reality TV star who, in every episode of The Apprentice, boasted these words with psychopathic delight: "John, you're fired," "Peter, you're fired," "Janet, you're fired." Today, he is the president of the United States. He is old and his health is declining, and he knows his days are numbered.
He wants to leave behind a geopolitical legacy and claim that his term stands out from those of his recent predecessors. In reality, none of this has anything to do with minerals or the security of the United States. Only the conquest and possession of a territory almost as large as France can satisfy his craving for recognition.