Ellesmere Island eyed for NMD site

OTTAWA — If Greenland stops the United States from using the Thule air base as part of its planned National Missile Defence system, the Americans will turn to Northern Canada for a site — possibly Alert, on the tip of Ellesmere Island.

The NMD system calls for upgrades to American air force bases located in northern Greenland, Alaska and England. But the Greenland government has protested U.S. plans for the Thule base.

Lt. General George Macdonald, the vice-chief of Canada’s defence staff, in Ottawa last week for a conference on climate change, sovereignty and security in the Canadian Arctic, wouldn’t rule out a NMD site on Ellesmere Island.

“We have ground that’s adjacent to Greenland,” Macdonald said.

It would be cheaper to revamp the existing facilities at Thule because its ballistic missile system, with four radar screens the size of football fields, was rebuilt for US$5 billion in 1987.

Thule now has one of the world’s most sophisticated satellite tracking systems — and it’s precisely the kind of system that the NMD plans call for.

But setting up shop in Thule might not be the easiest option.

The proposed NMD system would protect the United States from attacks by countries such as North Korea or Iran by shooting down missiles aimed at the U.S. before they enter its air space.

However, residents of northern Greenland who live in Qaanaaq, not far from the Thule base, worry about living next door to a missile-launching site.

Uusaqqak Qujaukitsoq, a hunter from the Thule and vice-president of Greenland’s Inuit Circumpolar Conference, has said “in the event of a conflict, we will surely be the first target.”

Working with Canadians on developing a NMD site could be a better option for the U.S., because there are no Inuit living near Alert.

Since the 1958 North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD agreement, the U.S. and Canada have been partners on northern defense.

Macdonald said North Warning System radar sites in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories could be upgraded to serve as part of the NMD system. These sites already provide surveillance of potential attack routes via Arctic airspace.

In any showdown involving hostile missiles aimed toward the U.S., Macdonald said Canada’s most northerly regions would lie under an “upper space battleground.”

But Macdonald said incoming ballistic missiles would be shot to smithereens in the air. As a result, he said the missiles wouldn’t cause any harm on the ground.