U.S. Air Force F-16s head to Greenland from Alaska

NORAD has sent U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters from Alaska to the Atlantic side of Canada, and plans to take aircraft and personnel on into Greenland, in an Arctic operation running Sept. 13-26.

The Alaskan NORAD Region moved the F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base to Goose Bay, in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province, for Operation ARCTIC VANGUARD 26-4.2. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is the joint U.S.-Canadian command that guards the continent’s airspace. During this operation the Alaskan region is working directly with its Canadian counterpart, the Canadian NORAD Region.

Royal Canadian Air Force strategic airlift supported the move. A U.S. Air Force photo dated Sept. 10 shows airmen from the 354th Fighter Wing loading cargo onto an RCAF CC-177 Globemaster III at Eielson.

Eielson sits in interior Alaska, Goose Bay is on Canada’s Atlantic side, and Greenland lies beyond it. NORAD says the deployment tests whether it can move multirole combat aircraft from Alaska to forward Arctic locations, stage them through northeastern Canada, and keep them flying in sub-zero weather with little support infrastructure. The command has not released results.

In Greenland, NORAD personnel and aircraft will work in what the command calls austere conditions, meaning remote sites with limited facilities, alongside partners from the Kingdom of Denmark and NATO. A U.S. Air Force photo released with the announcement shows F-16s taking fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over Greenland on Sept. 16. NORAD did not say how many F-16s or personnel are involved, or where in Greenland they will operate.

“Operation ARCTIC VANGUARD demonstrates that austere conditions and vast distances present no barrier to NORAD’s collective defense,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert D. Davis, commander of the Alaskan NORAD Region. “Deploying combat airpower from Alaska across Canada and forward into Greenland validates our agile combat capabilities and demonstrates our seamless integration with the Canadian NORAD Region, the Kingdom of Denmark, and our NATO allies. Together, we maintain continuous vigilance and credible deterrence across North America’s northern approaches.”

The F-16s are not the only U.S. fighters working in Greenland under the same operation name. U.S. Northern Command announced on Sept. 16 that F-35A fighters from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing had flown missions from Pituffik Space Base under ARCTIC VANGUARD. Pituffik, formerly Thule Air Base, is in northwestern Greenland and is the northernmost U.S. military installation in the world.

In February 2025, F-16s and KC-135 tankers deployed to Pituffik for Operation NOBLE DEFENDER, working in temperatures as low as minus 34 C (minus 29 F). In October 2025, NORAD sent two F-35s, two F-16s and three KC-135s for an exercise meant to test how quickly it could deploy forces to the Arctic.

ARCTIC VANGUARD operates under what NORAD and U.S. Northern Command call the Nordic Bridge concept. The commands describe it as a way to line up their Arctic operations, exercises, training and investments with other U.S. combatant commands, NATO, individual countries and regional partners. NORAD says the approach allows more consistent presence of multinational forces in the region, across multiple domains and locations.

The operation belongs to a recurring series of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command deployments across the North American Arctic. The current iteration is scheduled to end Sept. 26. NORAD has not said how long the F-16s will stay in Greenland or when they will return to Alaska.