Arctic Endurance continues throughout 2026

By Danish Defence 

Over the past week, soldiers from a range of NATO allied nations have been present in Greenland as part of the Arctic exercise Arctic Endurance. The exercise is a continuation of similar activities conducted in 2025.

Participating nations include France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Belgium, all of which have either already been or are currently in Greenland to plan upcoming exercises.

Planning and reconnaissance activities are conducted in close cooperation with the Danish Defence and the Arctic Command.

Initially, the participating nations are focusing on identifying opportunities to support Arctic Endurance, which is planned to take place throughout 2026 in and around Greenland.

Additional NATO nations have expressed interest in deploying reconnaissance teams to Greenland and are expected to arrive over the course of the year.

Permanent forces

The 90 permanent personnel of the Arctic Command form the core of both the exercise and the planning effort. In the current situation, they have been reinforced by a number of planning specialists from Denmark.

At sea, the permanent cadre of inspection vessels and patrol ships, which are continuously present around the Faroe Islands and Greenland, has been reinforced by a frigate. This addition provides the standing vessels with increased freedom of manoeuvre. Some of the ships are currently conducting training alongside the French frigate Bretagne, which has joined the exercise near Iceland.

F-35 and MRTT

In the coming weeks, Danish F-35 fighter aircraft will participate in exercise activities in close cooperation with one of the Royal Danish Air Force’s Challenger transport aircraft, as well as a French MRTT aerial refuelling aircraft. The aircraft will conduct patrol flights from Iceland along Greenland’s east coast.

Dragoons and Engineers

Danish soldiers from the Engineer Regiment and the Jutland Dragoon Regiment are deployed in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq, from where they will train a range of different disciplines over the coming weeks.

Danish soldiers on winter training. Photo: Oliver Satori / Danish Defence

This includes training in the protection of critical infrastructure and patrol operations. In addition, the task is to maintain and further develop their winter warfare skills. In Kangerlussuaq, they are also training together with a contingent from the French Army.