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Royal Danish Air Force
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The Royal Danish Air Force is the air force of Denmark, it is an expeditionary Air Force, with capability organised to support both international operations and homeland security.
military aviation was prohibited during the Nazi occupation, 1940-45.
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Encyclopedia
The Royal Danish Air Force is the air force of Denmark, it is 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) founded 1912-07-02 and Marinens Flyvevæsen (Royal Danish Naval Aviation) founded 1911-12-14. Four additional airframes were acquired for ground instruction.
The two services were merged in 1950 to form the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) and the Spitfires continued in service until 1956 when the last serviceable examples were retired and all but two scrapped.
One survived for a number of years in a children's playground and the one surviving instructional airframe was later restored to depict the number '401' Spitfire Mk. IX. This airplane is now preserved at Dansk Veteranflysamling at Stauning Airfield in Jutland.
In the 1960s and 1970s the RDAF operated a number of US financed Lockheed F-104G Starfighters, North American F-100D and F-100F Super Sabres, and several other types. In 1971 the Danish army created the Royal Danish Army Flying Service as the first air-unit outside the Air Force, since its creation in 1950. It had observation helicopters and piston-engined artillery spotting aeroplanes. In 1977 the Danish Naval Air Squadron was extracted from squadron 722 to the Danish Navy, and it had ship-based helicopters. In a joint arms purchase four NATO countries: Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, and Belgium introduced the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon as their common fighter-bomber in January 1980. The F-16 was later bought by additional NATO countries, Greece and Turkey, and the United States of America, also a NATO member operates the F-16.
In 1999, following the end of the Cold War, the Danish 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 uphold its domestic air-defense and sea-defense commitments.
In 2002, Denmark joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Team, and eventually up to 48 F-35s could be bought to replace the F-16s.
In October 2002, a tri-national detachment of 18 Danish, Dutch, and Norwegian F-16 fighter-bombers, with one Dutch KC-10 tanker, flew to the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, in support of the NATO ground forces in Afghanistan as part of the Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2004, the older C-130 Hercules fleet of three cargo planes (bought by the government in 1973) was replaced by three more-advanced C-130J cargo planes.
In 2005, a modification program (Mid Life Update) was completed on the remaining F-16 aircraft. The modification programme, started in 1995, introduced 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 a more advanced fighter. Contenders include the Boeing F/A-18EF Super Hornet, the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter, and the Saab Aviation Gripen. The Eurofighter Typhoon fighter was withdrawn from the competition on the grounds that the changes in the bidding process made that company think that the American or Swedish airplanes were favored in it.
In 2003, 16 H-500 Cayuse and 13 Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec from the Army Flying Service and eight Westland Lynx Mk. 90B from the Naval Air Squadron were supposed to be transferred to the Air Force. The 17 Cayuse and 13 Fennec helicopters were transferred to the newly re-formed Danish Squadron 724. The eight Lynx helicopters were supposed to enter another re-formed squadron, Squadron 728, but for political reasons those helicopters remained with the Navy.
In 2005, the 16 Cayuses were decommissioned, an also 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 Air Force signed a letter of intent to purchase several of the Boeing Integrated Defense C-17 Globemaster III. That order needs to be confirmed, but it is to be made on the basis of the formation of a shared NATO C-17 air fleet to support international deployments. The United States and the United Kingdom have already bought numerous C-17s, and several other NATO countries are considering doing so, too.
In June 2007, Denmarks six EH101 transport helicopters were transferred to the British Royal Air Force to meet an urgent British requirement for additional transport helicopters. In return, Denmark will receive newly-built replacements from the Agusta-Westland company, paid for by the United Kingdom.
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.
- Transport Wing Aalborg based at Aalborg AB.
- Eskadrille 721 (Squadron 721).
- Helicopter Wing Karup based at Karup AB.
- Fighter Wing Skrydstrup based at Skrydstrup AB.
- Eskadrille 727 & Eskadrille 730:
- Each squadron: 24 General Dynamics F-16AM and F-16BM pennant letters E and ET'
- Flyveskolen (Flying School) based at Karup AB
- 28 SAAB-MFI T-17 pennant letter T
- Air Control Wing
- Control and Reporting Centre Karup (CRC Karup) based at Karup AB
- Mobile Air Control Centre (MACC) based at Karup AB
- Combat Support Wing
- Wing staff
- Eskadrille 615 (combat communications)
- Eskadrille 660 (force protection)
- Eskadrille 680 (combat service support)
- Eskadrille 690 (medical squadron)
- Eskadrille 691 (medical squadron)
Outside the wing structure is the school structure with the Royal Danish Air Force Officers School in Jonstruplejren near Værløse and the Royal Danish Air Force Specility School at Karup AB.
Operations
Aircraft inventory
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service
! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes
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| AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin ||
|| transport/rescue helicopter || Merlin || 8 || when implemented 2007/2010:
8 helicopters delivered, 6 more on order
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| Bombardier CL-604 Challenger || || VIP transport || CL-604 || 3 ||
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| Eurocopter AS 550 Fennec || || observation helicopter || AS 550C2 || 11 || ex-Royal Danish Army
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| Lockheed C-130 Hercules || || tactical transport || C-130J-30 || 4 ||
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| Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon ||
|| fighter || F-16AM
F-16BM || 47
13 || original batch of 58
license-built by SABCA,
later surplus USAF
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| Saab MFI-17 Supporter || || elementary trainer/
liaison || MFI-17 || 28 ||
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| Sikorsky S-61 || || rescue helicopter || S-61A || 6 || being withdrawn in 2010
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Ranks
The officer ranks were taken from the Danish army and the insignias were copied from the Royal Air Force with minor differences and are as follows:
The other rank insignia are as follows:
See also
External links
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