InMay 1959, the US initiated the construction of an ice base, Camp Century, in northwest Greenland. Framed as a scientific project to test snow tunneling tech, in reality, it had military motives: the Iceworm system, a way to hide 600 nuclear missiles trained toward the Soviet Union, which would be in constant motion by snow rail tunnels under northern Greenland. And close to the Soviet Union.
Project Iceworm was never built. The ice’s shifting nature and unsuitability for housing nuclear facilities posed significant challenges, rendering the endeavor impractical. Iceworm was abandoned, and Camp Century was shut down in 1966 due to structural vulnerabilities.