After reaching the necessary parliamentary agreements and consensus, the Danish Ministry of Defence officially confirmed that it will proceed with the acquisition of sixteen (16) additional F-35A stealth fighters from the United States. The purchase will further strengthen Denmark’s fleet of fifth-generation aircraft, which are replacing the F-16s being transferred to Argentina and Ukraine. The announcement was made recently by Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, following political approval from the relevant parties.
Currently, the Royal Danish Air Force is in the process of replacing its F-16A/B MLU fighter fleet with 27 new F-35A aircraft. As more units are delivered, the Lightning IIs are gradually taking over the roles of the retiring Fighting Falcons, thereby enabling the transfer of the latter to Argentina and Ukraine. Denmark aims to achieve Full Operational Capability (FOC) with its F-35 fleet by 2027.
However, the 27 Lightning IIs ordered in 2016 —with deliveries beginning in 2023—, despite their modern and stealth capabilities, will not fully replace the Royal Danish Air Force’s original fleet of 48 F-16s.
Given this, and in light of the current European security context, the Danish government, through its Ministry of Defence, had been considering placing an additional order in recent months. Reports from March indicated that the proposal at that time involved ten aircraft.
Nevertheless, following parliamentary approval, it has now been officially confirmed that Denmark will move forward with negotiations with the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) to acquire 16 additional stealth fighters, thereby expanding its fleet to a total of 43 fifth-generation combat aircraft.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the total investment is estimated at 29 billion Danish kroner, under the framework of the Agreement for the Further Strengthening of F-35 Fighter Capacity.
The investment package also includes “…the acquisition of spare parts, weapon systems, threat simulators, flight simulators, training equipment, drag chutes, deployment kits, IT infrastructure, facilities, and additional personnel,” as part of this new procurement phase.
“With the planned acquisition of 16 additional F-35 fighters, we are making a historic strengthening of the Armed Forces. In July, I visited the United States, where I discussed with the director of the international F-35 program the possibility of acquiring more aircraft quickly. We now have the resources to move forward in that direction, which will allow us to significantly and rapidly enhance our Armed Forces’ combat capability,” said Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
Finally, as noted by the Ministry of Defence, Denmark will initiate the formal process and requests with the U.S. government and the F-35 Joint Program Office to formalize the recently approved decision, emphasizing that the goal is to complete this acquisition of 16 additional aircraft as quickly as possible.
This final point is especially relevant, as it has been indicated that in December Denmark will deliver the first six F-16 fighters to the Argentine Air Force, officially beginning the delivery schedule for the 24 aircraft committed under the agreement.
Images for illustrative purposes only.
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