Arctic Edge 2026 training being conducted in Alaska around Eielson, Fort Greely, Kodiak and Kotzebue
U.S. and allied military service members have begun the second week of a major training exercise in Alaska. Arctic Edge 2026, focuses on winter training for defending homeland from threats that include drone and missile attacks on military installations and key infrastructure.
This year’s exercise will extend into Greenland.
Staging Arctic Edge training exercises in Greenland may have raised some eyebrows, because of recent controversy over President Trump’s often-stated desire to acquire the enormous island. But Air Force spokesperson Lt. Col. John Ross says that didn’t factor in to the decision to conduct the exercise there.
“ It's a Special Forces mobility exercise,” he said. “Before we can do any training, we need to be in the country first.”
Ross is assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command, and he says Arctic Edge will give Special Forces personnel experience in moving troops, equipment and supplies into and around Greenland. He says that would be important experience if it ever were threatened.
“Just making sure that we can actually get our people and our gear up to Greenland,” he said, “so we can respond to whatever crisis we might be looking at someday when, you know, the Kingdom of Denmark asks us for our help.”
Greenland is part of Denmark, but it’s an autonomous territory that’s mainly ruled by its own government. Leaders of both countries declined Trump’s offers to buy Greenland and rebuffed his threats to acquire it.
But Denmark is participating in Arctic Edge. A news release from the U.S. Northern Command, which is overseeing the Greenland component of the exercise, says “All training activities in Greenland are conducted in full coordination with the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Troy Bouffard is a military affairs expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He says mobility training is essential for any military operation – especially one conducted in difficult conditions, like the Arctic.
“ Greenland is one of those areas where we may have to operate,” he said, “and that means being able to test our ability to mobilize, deploy, and function.”
Bouffard directs the UAF Center for Arctic Security and Resilience, and he’s an Army veteran and adjunct professor with the U.S. Army War College and a research fellow at the Modern Army Institute at West Point. He says based on his experience and conversations with other observers that U.S. and allied service members probably were not as agitated about Trump’s pronouncements on Greenland, because they focus on the mission.
“ It's always been true for the military, regardless of the politics,” he said. “When the military is conducting exercises or real-world operations, it takes them very seriously, regardless of sort of what's going on in the political sphere or in the news.”
Bouffard says the Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, probably have been working on arrangements for Arctic Edge long before the flap arose over Trump’s designs on Greenland. Both Northern Command and NORAD planned and oversee the exercise.
Back on this side of the Arctic, several scenarios for exercises are playing out around Alaska.
Those include the Alaska Army National Guard’s 49th Missile Battalion at Fort Greely training to defend the missile-defense base there from drone attacks.
Canadian Air Force spokesperson Capt. Chris Dube says U.S. and Canadian personnel will operate out of Eielson Air Force Base for training that simulates a cruise missile attack against the base.
Dube, who’s assigned to both the Northern Command and NORAD, says the exercises also will include aircraft from both nations that jointly operate NORAD, a binational military command.
“ We have Canadian F-18s. They’ll be working with American F-35s,” he said. “They're providing simulations so that NORAD can practice their cruise missile defense.”
U.S Navy and Coast Guard personnel wrapped-up an Arctic Edge training exercise around Kodiak last week that simulated evacuating casualties from a ship at sea to medical facilities on land.
Training also is being conducted around northwest Alaska, in Kotzebue, Noatak and the Red Dog Mine. NORAD and NORTHCOM officials say part of the training is focused on protecting infrastructure like oil refineries and electrical grids.
Arctic Edge operations are being managed from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, in Anchorage.
This year’s training involves about 1,200 U.S. and allied servicemembers, as well as state and local officials. Organizers say it’s the largest Arctic Edge Exercise since the first one in 2018.
Editor's note: This story has been updated and revised.
