Royal Danish Air Force
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Royal Danish Air Force Flyvevåbnet
Logo of "Flyvevåbnet"
Founded	1950 as a separate service, Danish Army Air Corps established in 1912
Country	Denmark
Role	National Air Defense and Air Superiority
Size	3,400 personnel + 100 conscripts[1] 111 aircraft[2]
Engagements	Operation Allied Force (1999) War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Commanders
Chief of Defence	Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen
Chief of Tactical Air Command	Major General Stig Østergaard Nielsen
Insignia
RDAF roundel
RDAF fin flash

The Royal Danish Air Force (Danish: Flyvevåbnet) 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.

Danish Air Force's F-16 MLU at the Radom Air Show in 2005.

The Danish armed forces received 38 surplus Supermarine Spitfire H. F. Mk. IXE ^[3] and 3 P.R.Mk. XI in 1947-48 ^[4] which were operated by units of Hærens Flyvertropper (Danish Army Air Corps) and Marinens Flyvevæsen (Royal Danish Naval Aviation). Four additional airframes were acquired for ground instruction.

The two services were merged in 1950 to form the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF)^[4] 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.^[5]

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 other NATO countries like Greece and Turkey, and obviously the NATO member United States of America also got the F-16 in her inventory.

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 McDonnell Douglas 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, Denmark’s 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. [1]

Organisation

Rescue-09 an AgustaWestland EH101

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).
    • 4 Lockheed C-130J-30 Hercules pennant letter B
    • 3 Canadair CL-604 Challenger pennant letter C
• Helicopter Wing Karup based at Karup AB.
  • Eskadrille 722 (Helicopters are staged around in Denmark for Search and Rescue duties)
    • 8 Sikorsky S-61A (being replaced) pennant letter U
    • 14 AgustaWestland EH101 (replacing S-61) pennant letter M
  • Eskadrille 724
    • 11 Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec pennant letter P
  • Supporting services for the Danish Naval Air Squadron
    • 8 Westland Lynx 90 pennant letter S
• 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

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

• From 1960 to 1964 RDAF S-55 helicopters flew missions for UNOC in the Congolese civil war.
• In 1999 nine F-16 fighters flew sorties over Kosovo from Grazzanise AB, Italy as part of Operation Allied Force.
• In 2002 and 2003 six F-16 fighter bombers flew 743 sorties against Taliban og al-Qaeda in Afghanistan from Ganci AB, Kyrgyzstan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
• From July to October 2004, four F-16 fighters in Šiauliai, Lithuania, was Denmark's contribution to NATO's Operation Baltic Air Policing.
• Four AS550C2 Fennec helicopters belonging to the 724th Squadron of the Helicopter Wing were deployed to Afghanistan on June 11, 2008. These helicopters were based at Camp Bastion, northwest of Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand province, and were assigned to provide high altitude observation for Danish ground forces, as well as light transport.^[6]

Aircraft inventory

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service	Notes
AgustaWestland EH101	Italy  United Kingdom	transport/rescue helicopter	Merlin	8	when implemented 2007/2010: 8 helicopters delivered, 6 more on order[7]
Bombardier CL-604 Challenger	Canada	VIP transport	CL-604	3
Eurocopter AS 550 Fennec	France	observation helicopter	AS 550C2	11	ex-Army
Lockheed C-130 Hercules	United States	tactical transport	C-130J-30	4
Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon	Belgium  United States	fighter	F-16AM F-16BM	47 13	original batch of 58 license-built by SABCA, later surplus USAF
Saab MFI-17 Supporter	Sweden	elementary trainer/ liaison	MFI-17 Supporter	28
Sikorsky S-61	United States	rescue helicopter	S-61A	6	being withdrawn in 2009[8]

Ranks

The officer rank insignia are as follows:

NATO Code	OF-10	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1		OF-D-	Student Officer
Denmark (Edit)	No equivalent											No equivalent
		General	Generalløjtnant	Generalmajor	Brigadegeneral	Oberst	Oberstløjtnant	Major	Kaptajn	Premierløjtnant	Flyverløjtnant Løjtnant

The other rank insignia are as follows:

NATO Code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4		OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Denmark (Edit)											No equivalent
	Chefsergent						Seniorsergent		Oversergent								Sergent			Værnepligtig sergent (No longer in use)			Korporal		Flyverspecialist		Flyveroverkonstabel						Flyverkonstabel

References

See also

• Military of Denmark
• NATO
• Scandinavian defence union
• List of F-104 Starfighter operators