Denmark Makes "Urgent" Plans to Buy Two Dozen Naval Vessels

As the security situation in the Baltic grows more complex, Denmark plans to bulk up its navy with two dozen new vessels and an array of unmanned systems.

"The naval battlefield is characterized by a more complex risk and threat picture than before, rapid technological development and a Russia that has become more willing to escalate its course towards the West. Therefore, with the naval plan, we are initiating several urgent acquisitions that address specific challenges and threats that we face now and in the coming years," said Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen.

The "urgent" track includes acquirting drones, unmanned units and equipment for subsea infrastructure monitoring. The risk of covert attacks on the seabed is real: NATO nations in the Baltic have experienced repeated subsea cable damage from merchant vessel anchor-dragging, some of which is believed to be deliberate. In addition, unidentified suspects blew up three of the four Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic in 2022, an unprecedented maritime security breach.

The order list includes four multipurpose ships that can be used for maritime surveillance, pollution response and mine laying. Denmark's existing pollution-prevention vessels are nearing end of life, and "it is common sense that the [replacement] vessels can assist with naval military tasks such as maritime surveillance, monitoring of critical underwater infrastructure and mine laying in light of the security policy situation," said Minister of Public Security Torsten Schack Pedersen.

The Danish Navy's Home Guard will also get 21 new vessels for patrol duties. Down the road, the newbuild program includes options for buying a new class of frigates and vessels for open-ocean operation in the Arctic and the North Atlantic.

Given recent tensions over Danish-controlled Greenland, U.S. weapons systems appear unlikely to make the naval procurement list. The chairman of Denmark's parliamentary defense committee said last month that he regretted buying $3 billion worth of American-made F-35 fighters, because the U.S. could potentially shut off the parts supply chain for leverage.

"Buying American weapons is a security risk that we cannot run. We will make enormous investments in air defense, fighter jets, artillery, and other weapons in the coming years, and we must avoid American weapons if at all possible," said Rasmus Jarlov of the Conservative People's Party.