Denmark Receives New Batch of F-35A Fighter Jets
8 December, 2024 The new Danish F-35A. Source: Ministry of Defense Four new F-35A multi-role fighters have arrived in Denmark from the United States.
This was reported by the country's Ministry of Defense. On December 6, the planes landed at Skridstrup Air Base, increasing the number of these fighters in the Royal Danish Air Force to eight. Prior to that, on December 3, they took off from Fort Worth, USA, with an intermediate stop in the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.
New Danish F-35A.
Source: Ministry of Defense
It is expected that Denmark will receive three more fighter jets this winter, bringing its fleet to eleven combat aircraft. Colonel Kim Jensen, Head of the Fighter Wing at Skridstrup Air Base, expressed hope that the new aircraft will significantly strengthen the Air Force and the country's defense capabilities. "The arrival of the new aircraft at Skrydstrup Air Base means that we will be able to move from basic training to maintain the level we learned in the United States to more serious training flights.
At the same time, we can start training in larger-scale scenarios and train more focused on what we will actually need the F-35 for in the future," says Kim Jensen. The first batch of fighters arrived in Denmark in September 2023.
The first F-35A fighters in Denmark. Source: Ministry of Defense of the country
Danish contract for F-35A
Denmark has purchased 27 F-35 multi-role fighters to replace its F-16 fleet.
It is planned that the last American-made aircraft will be delivered to the Danish Air Force in 2026. All of them will be based at the Skrydstrup Air Base, where the necessary infrastructure has already been created. Denmark has been participating in the F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet program since 1997.
Based on the results of the evaluation conducted in 2013-2016, on May 12, 2016, the government recommended the purchase of at least 27 F-35A aircraft to replace the F-16.
F-35A fighter jet with the number L-007 of the Danish Air Force. May 2023. USA.
Photo: Danish Ministry of Defense
In 2017, the Danish parliament approved a budget for the program, which runs until 2026. Denmark received the first F-35A on April 7, 2021, from Lockheed Martin. The fifth and sixth aircraft were accepted in July 2022, and the seventh became known in May 2023.
At the initial stage, the Danish F-35s are deployed to a base in Arizona, USA, where pilots and ground personnel of the Danish Air Force are being trained.