The United States military is quietly laying the groundwork for its largest expansion in Greenland in decades, with the Pentagon in active negotiations with Denmark to gain access to three additional sites, including two previously abandoned by Americans, on the strategically vital Arctic island, The New York Times reported. The move signals that the Trump administration’s fixation on Greenland has not subsided; it has simply shifted from bluster to logistics.

The move would mark the first US expansion there in decades. The talks were confirmed by Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the head of US Northern Command, during congressional testimony in mid-March, the report added.

Guillot told lawmakers the military wanted “increased access to different bases across Greenland as we look at the increasing threat and the strategic importance of Greenland,” adding that he was working to “develop more ports, more airfields, which leads to more options for our secretary and for the president, should we need them up in the Arctic,” NYT reported.

The report identified the towns of Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland, which offers a deep-water port, and Kangerlussuaq in the southwest, which already has a long runway capable of handling large aircraft, as the two primary target sites. Both were US bases during World War II and the Cold War. Americans left Narsarsuaq in the 1950s and Kangerlussuaq in the 1990s, though both still have small functioning airports.

According to Stars and Stripes, Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee the US also wants to add space systems to enable the proposed Golden Dome missile defence architecture, and the capability to launch fighters and tankers as a “first line of defence” against cruise missiles from the Arctic.

Task & Purpose reported that NORTHCOM is simultaneously working to repair and update infrastructure at Pituffik, which has suffered “accelerated wear and tear” due to harsh Arctic conditions, including modernising the runway and acquiring a new vessel for patrolling the coast near the base’s port.

The US is not seeking a new agreement. Guillot told Congress there was no need for a new treaty, calling the existing 1951 Danish-American defence pact “very comprehensive” and “frankly very favourable to our operations or potential operations in Greenland,” the NYT report said.

Scholars quoted by the report say there is little Denmark can do to block the expansion. Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told the paper that Denmark and Greenland can “in principle” refuse, “but in practice, you never do that. Because if you do, the United States can frame Denmark and Greenland’s control of the island as a security risk — and argue that it should take control itself.”

The request places Denmark in a tricky spot, as the NYT noted. Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for more than 300 years, and Trump threatened to use force to acquire it for months before relenting in January. The Danish government had itself cited the 1951 pact to push back against those threats, and is now watching Washington use the very same agreement to map out an expansion.

Task & Purpose reported that in January, allied nations, including Germany, France, and the Netherlands, deployed troops to Greenland on a “reconnaissance mission” in support of Denmark. According to Danish public broadcaster DR, Danish forces were fully prepared for armed conflict with American forces, bringing blood supplies and explosives intended to blow up runways at two locations, including the capital Nuuk, to deny American planes access to the island.

Yet when Democratic lawmakers asked Guillot whether Denmark or Greenland had thrown up any roadblocks to the current expansion talks, he said no. “They’ve been very, very supportive partners,” the general said, according to NYT.