Denmark joins European air tanker consortium
PARIS - Denmark has announced plans to join a European consortium of in-flight refuelling tanker aircraft, including the possible purchase of two Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft. Danish participation in this joint capacity is estimated to cost around DKK 7.4 billion (USD 1.1 billion) over the period 2025-2033.
The Danish Chief of Defence, Gen. Michael Hyldgaard, recommended that Denmark become a partner in the multinational transport and refuelling fleet, initially through the purchase of flight hours for aerial refuelling, followed by negotiations to buy a share in the consortium equivalent to two refuelling aircraft, he declared the Ministry of Defence on 25 March.
Air refuelling is one of several critical defence factors in which Europe is partially dependent on US capabilities, a dependency that appears increasingly risky as the US government disengages from Europe. The stakes may be even higher for Denmark, as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
The Danish Air Force operates F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.
The tanker capability will strengthen Denmark's air defence and "increase the fighting power of Danish defence, including our national operational needs," Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. "For example, the aerial refuelling capability sets the stage for fighter aircraft operations in the Arctic and North Atlantic."
The Danish government agreed in February to allocate a additional 50 billion kroner defence over the next two years, increasing defence spending to more than 3% of GDP in 2025 and 2026.
The multinational tanker fleet consists of nine MRTT aircraft, owned and operated by NATO, which pools the resources of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Belgium and Czechia. The six European countries have ordered an additional tanker for delivery in 2026.
Poulsen said that 'there is good potential for Nordic cooperation in this field' of aerial refuelling.
The fleet is operated from Eindhoven in the Netherlands, with aircraft also stationed in Cologne, Germany, both about 460 kilometres south-west of the Danish border. The joint tanker fleet was first proposed in 2012, and initiated by the European Defence Agency to address what NATO calls a 'long-standing shortfall' in European aerial refuelling capability.
The Airbus A330 MRTT is a multi-role aircraft that not only carries 110 metric tonnes of paraffin, but can also be used to transport passengers or cargo, with a cargo capacity of 45 tonnes. The aircraft can use a boom to refuel aircraft including the F-16 and F-35, and a probe and drogue system for the Eurofighter, Tornado, F-18, Gripen and Rafale.
Germany is the largest user of the joint tanker fleet in terms of flight hours, ahead of Belgium and the Netherlands. The fleet started with the Netherlands and Luxembourg jointly purchasing two A330 MRTTs in 2016, with five additional aircraft ordered in 2017 after Germany and Norway joined the project, with further tankers ordered in subsequent years after Belgium and Cecchia joined.
In addition to the six-nation pool, the other A330 MRTT operators in Europe are France with a fleet of 12 aircraft and three more on order, and the UK with 14 tankers, according to Airbus data at the end of February.
The Danish Chief of Defence also proposes to invest around 4.7 billion kroner in the period 2025-2033 to accelerate the construction of the 1st Army Brigade into a three-to-five-year heavy brigade, with the construction of two infantry companies, a tactical drone section, a mechanical engineering company and all-terrain trucks.
Denmark has announced the establishment of an air defence department at the Flyvestation Skalstrup military facility in anticipation of the acquisition of land-based air defence systems, according to a separate declaration on Wednesday. The country officially decommissioned the air defence units that operated the Hawk missile systems there in 2005.
The government has stated that it will seek an interim air defence solution that can be delivered as early as this year or next year, and will choose the system for a permanent solution this year, with the aim of finalising the contract by the end of 2025.
Earlier this month, Denmark shortlisted the French-Italian SAMP/T system and the US Patriot system to cover the high end of the threat spectrum in its purchasing plan of air defence systems, while MBDA's VL MICA system, Kongsberg's NASAMS, Diehl Defence's IRIS-T SLM and the US IFPC compete for the lower segment.
Published by Condoralex
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