French tankers refueling Danish fighters over Greenland to defend against NATO's largest member. This is what European strategic autonomy looks like in practice.
On January 16, two Royal Danish Air Force F-35A stealth fighters conducted patrol flights over Greenland's east coast near Kulusuk, supported by a French Airbus A330 tanker flying from southern France. The mission included aerial refueling and a flyby of the Faroe Islands before returning to Fighter Wing Skrydstrup in Denmark.
Flight Global reports this deployment forms part of Operation Arctic Endurance, launched January 15 - a year-long military exercise centered on Greenland that Denmark requested NATO allies support. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK have all pledged troops.
The timing is not coincidental. This operation directly responds to President Donald Trump's territorial threats. "We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not," Trump stated, dismissing Danish military capability as merely "two dogsled teams."
Two F-35s supported by a French tanker is Denmark's answer to that dismissal.
The operational details matter. Danish F-35s flying from Skrydstrup to Greenland's east coast requires aerial refueling - the fighters don't have the range to patrol Greenland and return without mid-air refueling. Denmark doesn't operate its own tanker aircraft. They needed allied support.
France provided it. Not America. France.
That's the entire story of European defense realignment in one mission profile. When a NATO ally needs defense support against threats from NATO's largest member, who provides the tankers? Another European ally.
The Danish Armed Forces described the mission as practice for "joint operations involving aerial refuelling, long-distance flights, and safety under harsh Arctic conditions." That's military-speak for "we're demonstrating we can defend Greenland without American help."
The broader coalition is significant. Six European nations contributing to Greenland's defense includes both NATO members and non-aligned states like Sweden. It spans the EU from France to Norway, from the Netherlands to the UK - which left the EU but apparently not European defense cooperation.
This is what strategic autonomy looks like when it stops being Brussels rhetoric and becomes operational reality. Allied tankers. Joint exercises. Long-duration Arctic patrols. All organized to defend against threats from Washington.
The operation also has economic implications. Trump has threatened retaliatory tariffs against nations participating in Greenland's defense. Canada, which previously agreed to purchase F-35s, is now reviewing that decision given the trade tensions. When your largest trading partner threatens tariffs for defending an ally, every procurement decision becomes geopolitical.
The exercise runs for a full year. This isn't a symbolic deployment - it's sustained military presence. Denmark is demonstrating capacity to maintain operations in the Arctic through winter conditions that have historically limited military activity.
And they're doing it with French fuel, German troops, British support, Dutch coordination, Norwegian partnership, and Swedish participation. Everything except American assistance.
The irony is acute. Trump spent his first term demanding Europeans spend more on defense and rely less on America. Now they're doing exactly that - to defend against American threats.
Brussels decides more than you think. And what Brussels decided - quickly, for once - is that when Washington threatens territorial aggression against a European ally, Europe provides the defense. The tankers. The troops. The political support.
Two Danish F-35s refueled by a French tanker over Greenland. That single mission profile represents the most concrete demonstration yet of what European defense looks like in the post-American era.
It looks like allies defending allies. Without asking Washington's permission. And explicitly against Washington's threats.
Welcome to European strategic autonomy. It flies on French fuel.
