Danish Defence

Danish Defence Forsvaret
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Current form	Defence Agreement 2013-17
Service branches	Royal Danish Army Royal Danish Navy Royal Danish Air Force Coat of Arms of the Home GuardDanish Home Guard
Headquarters	Kuglegården
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Queen Margrethe II
Defence Minister	Peter Christensen (Venstre)
Chief of Defence	General Peter Bartram
Manpower
Military age	18–49
Conscription	Yes
Available for military service	1,276,087 (2004 est.), age 15–49
Fit for military service	1,088,751 (2004 est.), age 15–49
Reaching military age annually	43.073
Active personnel	19.573 (1 July 2015)
Reserve personnel	12,000 + 51,000 volunteers in the Home Guard
Deployed personnel	473 (21 January 2015)
Expenditures
Budget	20.9 billion DKK (USD ~3.0 billion) (2015)
Percent of GDP	1.16% (2014)
Industry
Foreign suppliers	Canada Germany Sweden Switzerland United States
Related articles
History	Military history of Denmark

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

The Danish Defence (Danish: Forsvaret) is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark, 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 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.

Denmark also has a concept of "total defence" (Danish: Totalforsvar).

Purpose and task

The purpose and task of the armed forces of Denmark is defined in Law no. 122 of February 27, 2001 and in force since March 1, 2001. It defines three purposes and six tasks.

Its primary purpose is to prevent conflicts and war, preserve the sovereignty of Denmark, secure the continuing existence and integrity of the independent Kingdom of Denmark and further a peaceful development in the world with respect to human rights.

Its primary tasks are: NATO participation in accordance with the strategy of the alliance, detect and repel any sovereignty violation of Danish territory (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), defence cooperation with non-NATO members, especially Central and East European countries, international missions in the area of conflict prevention, crises-control, humanitarian, peacemaking, peacekeeping, participation in Total Defence in cooperation with civilian resources and finally maintenance of a sizable force to execute these tasks at all times.

Defence budget

Since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties. However, public opposition to increases in defence spending—during a period when economic constraints require reduced spending for social welfare—has created differences among the political parties regarding a broadly acceptable level of new defence expenditure.

The latest Defence agreement ("Defence agreement 2005–2009") was signed June 10, 2004, and calls for a significant re-construction of the entire military. From now about 60% support structure and 40% combat operational capability, it is to be 40% support structure and 60% combat operational capability, i.e. more combat soldiers and fewer "paper"-soldiers. The reaction speed is increased, with an entire brigade on standby readiness; the military retains the capability to continually deploy 2,000 soldiers in international service or 5,000 over a short time span. The standard mandatory conscription is modified. Generally this means fewer conscripts, less service time for them and only those who choose so, will continue into the reaction force system.

Expenditures

In 2006 the Danish military budget was the fifth largest single portion of the Danish Government's total budget, significantly less than that of the Ministry of Social Affairs (~110 billion DKK), Ministry of Employment (~67 billion DKK), Ministry of the Interior and Health (~66 billion DKK) and Ministry of Education (~30 billion DKK) and only slightly larger than that of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (~14 billion DKK). This list lists the complete expenditures for the Danish Ministry of Defence.

The Danish Defence Force, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year. They are not deducted in this listing.

Approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Depending on year, 50–53% accounts for payment to personnel, roughly 14–21% on acquiring new material, 2–8% for larger ships, building projects or infrastructure and about 24–27% on other items, including purchasing of goods, renting, maintenance, services and taxes.

The remaining 5% is special expenditures to NATO, branch shared expenditures, special services and civil structures, here in including running the Danish Maritime Safety Administration, Danish national rescue preparedness and the Administration of Conscientious Objectors (Militærnægteradministrationen).

Danish Defence expenditures (1949–1980)

Danish Defence expenditures (1981–)

Year Percentage of GNP Complete expenditures (Ministry of Defence) in millions of DKK 1949 2,0% 360 1950 1,7% 359 1951 2,1% 475 1952 2,7% 676 1953 3,4% 889 1954 3,2% 885 1955 3,2% 920 1956 3,0% 936 1957 3,1% 1.012 1958 2,9% 988 1959 2,6% 986 1960 2,7% 1.113 1961 1,6% 1.180 1962 3,0% 1.551 1963 3,0% 1.651 1964 2,8% 1.764 1965 2,8% 1.974 1966 2,6% 2.080 1967 2,6% 2.249 1968 2,7% 2.591 1969 2,4% 2.640 1970 2,4% 2.967 1971 2,4% 3.195 1972 2,2% 3.386 1973 2,0% 3.520 1974 2,2% 4.462 1975 2,4% 5.355 1976 2,2% 5.714 1977 2,2% 6.382 1978 2,3% 7.294 1979 2,3% 8.045 1980 2,4% 9.117

Year Percentage of GNP Complete expenditures (Ministry of Defence) in millions of DKK 1981 2,4% 10.301 1982 2,4% 11.669 1983 2,4% 12.574 1984 2,2% 13.045 1985 2,1% 13.344 1986 1,9% 13.333 1987 2,0% 14.647 1988 2,1% 15.620 1989 2,0% 15.963 1990 2,0% 16.399 1991 2,0% 17.091 1992 1,9% 17.129 1993 1,9% 17.390 1994 1,8% 17.293 1995 1,7% 17.468 1996 1,7% 17.896 1997 1,6% 18.521 1998 1,6% 19.071 1999 1,6% 19.428 2000 1,5% 19.339 2001 1,6% 21.017 2002 1,5% 21.269 2003 1,5% 21.075 2004 1,5% 21.441 2005 1,3% 20.800 2006 1,4% 23.173 2007 1,3% 22.731 2008 1,4% 24.410 2009 1,4% 23.252 2010 1,4% 25.328 2011 1,4% 24.259 2012 1,4% 25.617 2013 1,3% 23.724 2014 1,3% 25.022 2015 N/A 20.892 (expected) 2016 N/A 21.404 (expected) 2017 1,2% 21.187 (expected) 2018 N/A 20.603 (expected)

Because Denmark has a small and highly specialized military industry, the vast majority of the Danish Defence's equipment is imported from NATO and the Nordic countries.

Branches

• Royal Danish Army—Hæren (HRN)
• Royal Danish Navy—Søværnet (SVN)
• Royal Danish Air Force—Flyvevåbnet (FLV)
• Danish Home Guard—Hjemmeværnet (HJV)

Structure

• Ministry of Defence ((Danish): Forsvarsministeriet (FMN))
  • Defence Command ((Danish): Værnsfælles Forsvarskommando (VFK))
    • Operations Staff ((Danish): Operationsstaben)
    • Coordination and Development Staff ((Danish): Koordinations- og Udviklingsstaben)
    • Army Staff ((Danish): Hærstaben (HST))
    • Naval Staff ((Danish): Marinestaben (MST))
    • Air Staff ((Danish): Flyverstaben (FST))
    • Arctic Command ((Danish): Arktisk Kommando (AKO))
    • Special Operations Command ((Danish): Specialoperationskommandoen (SOKOM))
  • Royal Danish Defence College ((Danish): Forsvarsakademiet (FAK))
  • Danish Armed Forces Health Services ((Danish): Forsvarets Sundhedstjeneste (FSU))
  • Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization ((Danish): Forsvarsministeriets Materiel- og Indkøbsstyrelse (FMI))
    • Danish Defence IT Agency ((Danish): Forsvarets Koncernfælles Informatiktjeneste (FKIT))
  • Danish Defence Personnel Organisation ((Danish): Forsvarsministeriets Personalestyrelse (FPS))
  • Danish Defence Estates and Infrastructure Organisation ((Danish): Forsvarsministeriets Ejendomsstyrelse (FES))
  • Home Guard Command ((Danish): Hjemmeværnskommandoen (HJK))
  • Defence Intelligence Service ((Danish): Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE))
  • Judge Advocate Corps ((Danish): Forsvarets Auditørkorps (FAUK))
  • Defence Financial Management Agency ((Danish): Forsvarsministeriets Regnskabsstyrelse (FRS))
  • Defence Internal Auditor ((Danish): Forsvarets Interne Revision (FIR))
  • Emergency Management Agency ((Danish): Beredskabsstyrelsen (BRS))
  • Administration of Conscientious Objector ((Danish): Militærnægteradministrationen (MNA))

Special forces

• Jægerkorpset: Ground based infiltration unit.
• Frømandskorpset: Amphibious attack and infiltration unit.
• Slædepatruljen Sirius: Arctic dog sled unit patrolling the eastern border of Greenland.

Current deployments

Current deployment of Danish forces:

• Approx. 30 Home Guard soldiers in Kosovo participating in NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), Guarding the French Camp Novo Selo
• Approx. 168 soldiers attached to NATO's Standing NRF Maritime Group 1.
• 7 F-16 Fighter Aircraft stationed in Kuwait to participate in U.S.-led operations over Iraq.

Conscription

Technically all Danish 18-year-old males are conscripts (37,897 in 2010, of whom 53% were considered suitable for duty). Due to the large number of volunteers, 96-99 % of the number required in the past three years, the number of men actually called up is relatively low (4200 in 2012). There were additionally 567 female volunteers in 2010, who pass training on "conscript-like" conditions.

Conscripts in the Danish Defence (army, navy and air force) generally serve four months, except:

• Conscripts of the Guard Hussar Regiment Mounted Squadron serve 12 months.
• Conscripts aboard the Royal Yacht Dannebrog serve nine months.
• Conscripts in the Danish Emergency Management Agency serve nine months.
• Conscripts in the Royal Life Guards serve eight months.

There has been a right of conscientious objection since 1917.

See also

• Military history of Denmark
• Military of Greenland
• NATO
• Scandinavian defence union
• Officers ranks, Denmark

References

• http://www2.forsvaret.dk/omos/Publikationer/Documents/Fakta%20om%20Forsvaret_DK.pdf

External links

• Danish Defence
• Army Operative Command
• Army Materiel Command
• kamouflage.net > Europe > Denmark (Kingdom of Denmark) > index
• One for all, all for one? New Nordic Defence Partnership?—Publication from the Nordic Council of Ministers. Free download.
• Norwegian and Danish defence policy: A comparative study of the post-Cold War era A historical and comparative study published by the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. Free download.