What is the purpose of Thule Air Base?

_N_ · 11-12-2008, 07:13 PM

I was watching on BBC a segment about US Thule Air Base located in Greenland and found it somewhat strange.

Why does the USA have a base in the artic circle in Greenland if they already own Alaska which gives them access to the arctic? Secondly, the explanation for it also didn't make much sense.

If you look at the website http://www.thule.af.mil/ you see that they say:
"Eyes of Freedom", "Assured Access to Space at top of the World"

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Air_Base

Supposedly, it's part of nuclear warning system, but if you look at the map of the coverage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:N...gSystemMap.png you can see that it covers mainly Greenland and part of Canada which is mostly covered in ice. It also overlaps all the other radars the USA has.
Wikipedia, under Today section says that Thule is among many things "operating many new weapons systems."

Who are they afraid of? Russia? Is there more to this than meets the eye? anyone know any more info about this place, I'm quite fascinated by it.

11-12-2008, 07:13 PM	#1
_N_ Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 53	What is the purpose of Thule Air Base? I was watching on BBC a segment about US Thule Air Base located in Greenland and found it somewhat strange. Why does the USA have a base in the artic circle in Greenland if they already own Alaska which gives them access to the arctic? Secondly, the explanation for it also didn't make much sense. If you look at the website http://www.thule.af.mil/ you see that they say: "Eyes of Freedom", "Assured Access to Space at top of the World" more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Air_Base Supposedly, it's part of nuclear warning system, but if you look at the map of the coverage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:N...gSystemMap.png you can see that it covers mainly Greenland and part of Canada which is mostly covered in ice. It also overlaps all the other radars the USA has. Wikipedia, under Today section says that Thule is among many things "operating many new weapons systems." Who are they afraid of? Russia? Is there more to this than meets the eye? anyone know any more info about this place, I'm quite fascinated by it.