Xinhuanet, STOCKHOLM: The United States, Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, signed agreements Friday at Igaliku, a small village in southern Greenland, to upgrade the radar system at Thule, a Cold War US air base with a crucial role in US plans for a missile defense system.
Three agreements were signed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller and Josef Motzfeldt in charge of external affairs for Greenland. One of thedocuments updated the 1951 agreement, the second provided for economic and technical cooperation and the third was aimed at protecting the environment.
“Together we will meet the security challenges of the 21st century, from missile defense to international terrorism,” Powell said at the signing ceremony.
The Thule base, about 1,500 km 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.
As the United States is to formally launch its missile defense system in September this year, the radar system at Thule is too old to meet the requirement.
The planned upgrading of the Thule radar system, which today covers 5,000 km — all the way into Russian territory — will set Thule as an essential link in the future US missile defense system.
