Everything about Danish Air Force totally explained
The
Royal Danish Air Force (
Danish:
Flyvevåbnet) is the
air force of
Denmark, it's an expeditionary Air Force, with capability organised to support both international operations and homeland security.
History
All military aviation was prohibited during the
Nazi occupation, 1940-45. At
V-E Day the Danish armed forces had no aircraft, but the
Luftwaffe had built or expanded air bases in Denmark.
The
Danish armed forces received 38 surplus
Supermarine Spitfire H. F. Mk. IXE and 3
P.R.Mk. XI in 1947-48 which were operated by units of
Hærens Flyvertropper (Danish Army Air Corps) and
Marinens Flyvevæsen (Danish Navy Flying Service). Four additional airframes were acquired for ground instruction.
The two services were merged in
1950 to form the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF)
In the
1960s and
1970s the RDAF operated a number of
US financed Lockheed F-104G Starfighters,
North American F-100D and F Super Sabres and several other types. In 1971 the danish army created the Danish Army Air Corps as the first air-unit outside the air force, since its creation in 1950 and in 1977 the Danish Naval Air Squadron was extracted from squadron 722 to the Danish Navy. In January 1980 the
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon was introduced.
In 1999 following the end of the
Cold War the air force was re-organised to be an expeditionary air force, capable of supporting international operations worldwide, but at the same time still being able to honour its domestic commitments.
In 2002 Denmark joined the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Team, up to 48 F-35 may be bought to replace the F-16.
In October 2002 a tri-national detachment of 18 Danish,
Dutch and
Norwegian F-16 ground attack aircraft and one Dutch
KDC-10 tanker, deployed to
Manas Air Base in
Kyrgyzstan in support of ground forces in
Afghanistan as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2004 the original
Lockheed C-130H Hercules fleet of 3 aircraft (bought in 1973) was replaced by 3 advanced
C-130Js.
In 2005 a modification program (Mid Life Update) was completed on the surviving F-16 aircraft. The modification programme started in 1995 introduces a new mission computer, color multifunction displays and other avionic improvements. Despite the modifications and improvements, the Danish Air Force is considering the replacement of the 48 fighters with next generation aircraft. Contenders are Boeing's F/A-18EF
Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin's
Joint Strike Fighter and Saab's
Gripen. EADS'
Eurofighter Typhoon withdrew from the contest on the grounds that the changes in the bidding process made the company feel that US aircraft were favored.
In 2003 16
H-500 Cayuse and 13
Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec from the Danish Army Air Corps and 8
Westland Lynx Mk. 90B from the Danish Naval Air Squadron was supposed to be transferred to the airforce. The 17 Cayuse and 13 Fennec helicopters was transferred to the newly created
Squadron 724. The 8 Lynx helicopters was supposed to enter another new squadron,
Squadron 728, but for political reasons these helicopters stayed in the navy.
In 2005 the 16 Cayuses was decomissioned as well as one of the Fennecs. The remaining 12 Fennecs took over many of the tasks from the Cayuses, including support-functions of the
Danish police.
In 2006 the RDAF signed a
letter of intent to purchase the
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the order is to be confirmed but is to be on the basis of a shared
NATO C-17 fleet to support international deployments.
Denmark’s six transport
EH101s were transferred to the British
Royal Air Force in June 2007 to meet an urgent British requirement for additional transport helicopters. Denmark will later receive new build replacements from
Agusta-Westland.
(External Link
)
Organisation
All Danish military aircraft have since the early sixties been registered with a pennant letter and the last three digits from the factory serial number.
Aircraft inventory
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes
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|
AgustaWestland EH101 ||
|| transport/rescue helicopter || Merlin || 8 || when implemented 2007/2010:
8 helicopters delivered, 6 more on order
|
-
|
Bombardier CL-604 Challenger || || VIP transport || CL-604 || 3 ||
|
-
|
Eurocopter AS 550 Fennec || || observation helicopter || AS 550C2 || 11 || ex-
Army
|
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|
Lockheed C-130 Hercules || || tactical transport || C-130J-30 || 4 ||
|
-
|
Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon ||
|| fighter || F-16AM
F-16BM || 47
13 || original batch of 58
license-built by SABCA,
later surplus
USAF
|
-
|
Saab MFI-17 Supporter || || elementary trainer/
liaison || MFI-17 Supporter || 28 ||
|
-
|
Sikorsky S-61 || || rescue helicopter || S-61A || 6 || being withdrawn in 2009
|}
Ranks
The officer rank insignia are as follows:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Danish Air Force'.
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