It is worrying for our security, Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs says. But shooting is only a small part of the job, explains a local expert.
As part of its territorial defense, the Joint Arctic Command, part of the Danish military, owns three patrol vessels of the so-called Knud Rasmussen-class. Part of their job is to deter unwanted ships from entering Danish waters, and, if necessary, to shoot at them.
But, in a recent revelation by Danish public broadcaster DR, it was disclosed that two of the patrol ships, Knud Rasmussen and Ejnar Mikkelsen, have not been able to do just that. Since put in service in 2008, the ships’ cannons have been missing a weapon system, a system that the Ministry of Defence describes as a “fundamental basic element”. Without it, the two military ships have not been able to shoot, or at least to hit a target.
This revelation has sparked anger and surprise in Greenland.
“Of course, I think that this is very worrying. It is a question of our security,” Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs told DR.
“It makes me think about whether there are other areas where things aren’t the way we think they are,” she continued.
Similarly, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, head of Demokraatit, a center-right opposition party, was critical.
“There is no point in having a cannon if it is not working. And we need to be able to enforce our sovereignty. It is important. Even though we are a low-suspense area, we need to have equipment that works,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen told DR.
Dual-use entity
The cannon on the third patrol vessel in the Knud Rasmussen-class, Lauge Koch, has been working since its inauguration in 2017. And, after 15 years, Ejnar Mikkelsen had the necessary system installed in the summer of 2023. Knud Rasmussen still cannot shoot.
The news has been received with dismay, both in Greenland and Denmark, but, according to Rasmus Leander Nielsen, Assistant Professor at the Department for Social Science, Journalism, and Economics at the University of Greenland, shooting at other vessels is, in fact, just a small part of the task the patrol ships are solving.
He points out that the entire Joint Arctic Command is a dual-use entity, solving both military and civilian tasks. This is unlike other countries like the United States that have a separate coast guard and navy.
“The cannons are, of course, only necessary in relation to the military part of the job. Here, the job is to patrol territorial waters and be a deterrent from entering them illegally,” Rasmus Leander Nielsen told Polar Journal.
The ships that need to be deterred are mainly foreign fishing vessels, he says. In the 1980s, Greenland had problems with German and Russian ships fishing illegally in Greenlandic waters, but that has long since ceased to be a problem. And even back then, Rasmus Leander Nielsen is not aware of any shots ever having been fired.
“It is embarrassing for the Danish Defense but it will not play a major role in Arctic geopolitics. Should the Russians do something in Greenlandic waters, for instance, it will be left to the Americans to deal with,” he said.
Ships or drones?
But even though the faulty cannons do not pose an immediate threat to Greenland, the discovery adds fuel to the fire in an ongoing discussion in the country of whether Danish military equipment is up-to-date.
“This is a discussion that has been going on in Greenland for a while, so the fact that the cannons do not work just confirms that these vessels are far out-of-date. It is deeply embarrassing,” Rasmus Leander Nielsen said.
However, not everyone in Greenland agrees that Denmark should invest in a military buildup in the Arctic. Some believe that the Joint Arctic Command should focus more on civilian activities, while others are proponents of doing more to prevent Russian activities in the region.
“It is important to note that Greenland is split on this question, and that the parties have markedly different opinions on the question,” Rasmus Leander Nielsen said.
“Some believe that more money should be put into improving the Arctic fleet, while others are proponents of investing in drones and surveillance. These are really difficult questions that are currently being debated,” he said.
A Potemkin village?
Back in Denmark the news of the faulty cannons have also been met with disbelief.
One commentator called the Danish navy a Potemkin village, referring to the fake portable villages brought around to give the Russian Empress Catherine II a better impression of the Russian countryside; meant to impress on the surface but with no substance underneath.
The Danish Minister of Defence, Troels Lund Poulsen, was also apologetic when confronted by the DR journalists.
“It is not knowledge that I have had. For the same reason, I have now asked for a report to understand the sequence of events, and why the cannons have not been bought, even though we decided so many years ago,” he told DR.
And this report, he promised, will be personally shared with Vivian Motzfeldt, the Greenlandic Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“I understand if Greenland has a number of questions. So do I,” he said to DR.
Ole Ellekrog, PolarJournal
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