Denmark is leading a military exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Greenland, a maneuver that coincides with months of tensions over the Trump administration's desire for U.S. jurisdiction over the vast Arctic territory.

The Arctic Light 2025 exercise, which follows maneuvers with identical or similar titles in previous years, involves more than 550 service members from Denmark and NATO allies France, Germany, Sweden and Norway, according to the Danish military.

On Wednesday Danish, French and German soldiers trained infiltrating an enemy base by helicopter near Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland.

Major Morten Kruse of the Danish army stressed the difficult terrain and remoteness of Greenland as the biggest challenges for his soldiers.

“There’s a lot of hills and altitude meters. And that means it is very hard for my soldiers to carry all their stuff in their bag. It takes a long time to move from A to B by foot,” Kruse said after the exercise.

The exercise also includes Swedish reconnaissance units, who are using drones to spot enemy movement during the drills.

Kangerlussuaq is the main base for the Danish air force on the island.

Located 25 kilometres further inland than the other coastal settlements in Greenland the airstrip is protected by mountains on both sides. The nearby glacier creates a stable climate zone which makes the airfield usable throughout the year unlike other airports on the coast, which have to put up with the ever-unpredictable weather in Greenland.

The stated aim of the exercise is to strengthen the operational readiness of the Danish armed forces and Greenland, a strategically located island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

The military says its personnel is training along with allies to reinforce “their joint response capabilities against destabilizing threats to Greenland, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.”

AP Video shot by Philipp Jenne