Danish defence in turmoil as lawmakers keen to press on with revamping military

7 months ago 37

Between an accidental missile launch on Thursday and the sacking of the head of the Danish armed forces the day before, it has not been a good week for Denmark’s military, but lawmakers are still keen to push ahead with current negotiations over multi-billion euro investments in military hardware.

On Thursday, the Danish Maritime Authority warned there was a risk of rocket fragments falling near the bridge over the Great Belt strait separating Denmark’s two largest islands.

“A harpoon missile on the frigate Niels Juel, which is in the harbour in Korsør, is in danger of leaving the launcher unintentionally”, the Danish Defence wrote in a press release.

The problem is thought to have occurred during a test during which the rocket’s launcher was activated without the possibility of deactivating it.

But that was not the only event at the Korsør naval base on Thursday, as the port was also at the centre of another controversy.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen fired Denmark’s Chief of Defence Flemming Lentfer after reports emerged that he had failed to report critical problems with the Danish frigate Ivar Huitfeldt – currently anchored at the same naval base – which malfunctioned during an encounter with Houthi militants in the Red Sea last month.

According to reports, the ship’s air defence systems had failed, preventing it from firing missiles for half an hour when it was in deep water, while issues with the ammunition system resulted in half the rounds being misfired.

The damning reports of recent days weighed heavily on the minister’s decision, but Poulsen said he had dismissed Lentfer after an “overall assessment”.

He was replaced by Michael Hyldgaard, a major general and head of the Special Operations Command, before being appointed deputy defence chief.

Bad timing

Lentfer’s dismissal and the missile incident came amid delicate negotiations between the various parties in the Danish parliament to increase the army’s budget and review the conscription model.

Indeed, Danish politicians are negotiating an additional investment of DKK 40.5 billion (€5 billion) for Danish defence, on top of the DKK 143 billion (€17 billion) already allocated.

The Danish government has even called for conscription to be extended to women and for the length of service to be increased from four to 11 months, amid fears that the country’s armed forces will lack the manpower to train the new recruits efficiently if the budget is not increased.

However, according to Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the main opposition Green Left party, the recent events, which have caused serious turmoil within the country’s defence structure, should not affect the negotiations on new multi-billion dollar investments in military hardware.

“We still need to speed up the negotiations. Denmark lacks air defence, and we cannot defend ourselves”, Olsen Dyhr told Danish media on Wednesday.

“What is happening in the Ministry of Defence is very serious. It needs to be cleaned up so that we have confidence that the investments we make will have the right effect,” she added.

However, Niels Tønning, chairman of the Officers’ Union (HOD), believes Lentfer’s dismissal is ill-timed, especially as Lentfer was responsible for the entire preparatory phase and the framework agreement that has already been concluded regarding the Danish Defence Forces’ multi-billion euro modernisation programme, he told Danish broadcaster DR.

This is not the first time the Danish Defence Forces have made the news.

After the National Audit Office criticised the Defence Ministry for not having sufficient control over its finances in January last year, later that year, the then defence minister, Jakob Elleman Jensen, gave false information to the Danish parliament about the purchase of a new Israeli weapons system that was not as tightly scheduled as the minister claimed.

“We all hope that things will come under control in the Armed Forces”, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen summed up in a very brief comment to the press on Thursday.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)