Forsvaret

Service branches Royal Danish Navy

Royal Danish ArmyHren (HRN) Svrnet (SVN)

Royal Danish Air Force Flyvevbnet (FLV) Leadership Commander-in-Chief Defence Minister Chief of Defence Manpower Military age Available for military service 1,276,087 (2004 est.), age 1549 Fit for military service 1,088,751 (2004 est.), age 1549 Active personnel Reserve personnel Deployed personnel Expenditures Budget 4.33 billion USD (2009)[4] Percent of GDP 1.4% (2009) Related articles History Military history of Denmark 24,200 (2011)[2] 12,000 + 51,000 volunteers in the Home Guard 1,400[3] 1849 Queen Margrethe II Nick Hkkerup (Social Democrats) General Peter Bartram[1]

Danish Army and Navy personnel at combined/joint exercise DANEX/DRO '07

The armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark, known as the Danish Defence (Danish: Forsvaret) is charged with the defence of Denmark and its overseas territories, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Queen Margrethe II is the de jure Commander-in-Chief per the Danish constitution, however according to the Danish Defence Law[5] the Minister of Defence serves as the commander of the Danish Defence (through the Chief of Defence and the Defence Command) and the Danish Home Guard (through the Home Guard Command). De facto the Danish Cabinet is the commanding authority of the Defence, though it cannot mobilize the armed forces, for purposes that are not strictly defence oriented, without the consent of parliament

Germany receives MANTIS air defence system at 04:31

Rheinmetall has announced the formal delivery of the MANTIS air defence system to the German Air Force during a ceremony in Husum, Germany, home of Air Defence Missile Squadron 1 Schleswig-Holstein. The MANTIS system will bring the German Air Force the ability to counter a wide array of threats in future operational scenarios.

MANTIS stands for Modular, Automatic and Network-capable Targeting and Interception System, and is a high performance, automated air defence system for asset protection. Full integration into the German Air Forces existing command and information systems has already been achieved, with plans in place to ensure that it meets future requirements as well.

MANTIS is designed to protect military installations and critical civilian infrastructure from aerial threats coming in at low altitude, including manned and unmanned aircraft. It is also able to neutralise incoming rockets, artillery and mortar rounds (RAM threats). The system can be deployed to defend national territory and allied nations or in military operations other than war (MOOTW); while in conflict and post-conflict situations, it can be used to protect Bundeswehr forward operating bases and other facilities.

Rheinmetall calls mantis the future mainstay of modern, ground-based area and air defence of assets. If an asset has to be protected at short notice, the radar and gun components can be transported to the area of operations on quickly deployable platforms. MANTIS has a modular design, giving its users the ability to upgrade and expand the system in future. According to Rheinmetall, in addition to its current 35mm Revolver cannons, it will be possible in future to augment MANTIS with other effectors such as anti-aircraft missiles or high-energy lasers, integrating them directly into the system.

The system was officially handed over by Bodo Garbe, a member of the Executive Board of Rheinmetall Defence.

Garbe commented: Thanks to MANTIS, the German Air Force now has at its disposal the world's leading air defence system for asset protection. It is a highly effective system, capable of countering a wide array of threats in future operational scenarios. Moreover, its open architecture design makes it a futureproof investment. Rheinmetall is proud of the contribution MANTIS will make to protecting our men and women in uniform during deployed operations.

RDAF Supermarine Spitfire - Stauning Aircraft Museum

RDAF TF-100F Super Sabre survivor, 2006

RDAF F-16 MLU at the 2005 Radom Air Show

Danish Air Force AW101 hoisting from water

The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) was formed as a military service independent from the Army and Navy in 1950 from the merger of theHrens Flyvertropper (Danish Army Air Corps) originally founded [5] on July 2, 1912 and theMarinens Flyvevsen (Danish Naval Air Service) which had been founded on [6] December 14, 1911. All military aviation had been prohibited during the Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945 and so as of V-E Day the Danish armed forces had no aircraft, but theLuftwaffe 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 [8] 1947-48 plus four additional airframes for ground instruction, which were operated by units of the Hrens Flyvertropper and Marinens Flyvevsen prior to their merger, and by the Royal Danish Air Force until 1956 when the last examples were retired and all but two scrapped.
[7]

The Royal Danish Army is the land warfare branch of the Danish Defence Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods, abandoning its traditional role of anti-invasion defence, and instead focusing on out of area operations by, among other initiatives, reducing the size of the conscripted and reserve components and increasing the active (standing army) component, changing from 60% support structure and 40% operational capability, to 60% combat operational capability and 40% support structure. When fully implemented, the Danish Army will be capable of deploying 1,500 troops permanently on three different continents continuously, or 5,000 troops for a shorter period of time, in international operations without any need for extraordinary measures such as parliamentary approval of a war funding bill.

A Danish Guard Hussar interacting with the local population in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2009

Danish Military Police conduct advanced law enforcement training involving high risk arrest scenarios at the Grafenwhr Training Area in Germany, 2009.

The Royal Danish Navy (RDN) (officially Kongelige Danske Marine inDanish, but more generally known as Svrnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters. Other tasks include surveillance, search and rescue, icebreaking, oil spill recovery and prevention as well as contributions to international tasks and forces. During the period 1509-1814, when Denmark was in union with Norway, the Danish Navy was part of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. Until thecopenhagenization of the navy in 1807, the navy was a major strategic influence in European geographical area, but since then it had remained of a smaller size. Despite this, the navy is now equipped with a number of large state-of-the-art vessels commissioned since the end of the Cold War. This can be explained by its strategic location as the NATO member controlling access to the Baltic. Danish Navy ships carry the prefix KDM (Kongelige Danske Marine) in Danish, but this is translated to HDMS (Her / His Danish Majesty's Ship) in English. Denmark is one of several NATO member states whose navies do not deploy submarines.

HDMS Absalon and HDMS Thetis during the Royal Danish Navy's 500 years anniversary

Alouette III helicopters operated on Arctic Patrol Vessels (1962-1982)

Danish FAC Sehested (Willemoes-class) Carrying Harpoon-missiles and FFV Type 613 21" torpedoes. Top-speed 45 kn (1972-2000)

Danish mobile missile battery (MOBA) for coastal defence equipped with Harpoon missiles (1990s-2003)

Stren (P555) Flyvefisken-class (1989-current)