The aircraft, with tail number L-001, recently arrived at the Electronic Mate and Alignment Station.

Lockheed Martin say that Electronic Mate and Alignment Station (EMAS) is an electronic compatibility and assembly system designed to perform the final assembly of the front, center and rear of the F-35, as well as the wing module.

“In the period 2021 to 2026, Denmark will acquire 27 new fighter jets. The F-35 is phasing out the F-16, which since the 1980s has given Denmark the ability to assert Danish sovereignty, take part in international operations and contribute to NATO’s collective defense. The new Danish F-35 fighter jets are expected to be able to solve the full task complex nationally and internationally from 2027.”

The head of the Danish Air Force, Major General Anders Rex, is on the record as saying:

“This is an important milestone we have reached on the way to receiving the first F-35 aircraft. The production of the F-35 aircraft to Denmark is beginning to take shape, and we are very much looking forward to the F-35 contributing to the Danish Armed Forces.”

The first Danish F-35 fighter jets will continue to stay in the USA until 2023 before heading to Skrydstrup Air Base in Denmark.

George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison

15 COMMENTS

  1. Denmark makes for a good comparison with Ireland in terms of economy and population yet when it comes to military spending and capability they could not be further apart. If Denmark can afford Frigates, F35, Cv90, Phiranah 4 and Eagle 4 what is Ireland spending its money on?

  2. I guess if you’ve got a 2000 year old history from Viking warriors, through Napoleonic Wars , through to invasion by Germany in WW2 ( and wars with loads of other European countries in between ) then your outlook and military spending might be different to a country that’s only been in existence for less than 100 years, hasn’t really been involved in any wars and defeated the British Empire with basically a peasant army.

    • Ireland hardly defeated the British empire! That’s a little far fetched. Or what warships did they defeat the Royal Navy with? And what airforce the RAF?

      • You are agreeing with me. If you’ve ever been to Ireland they believe they defeated the British ( who had an Empire and were a major superpower at the time ) without a navy and an airforce – so why do they need to spend on a massive military.

        Comparing them to Denmark is not a comparison ( one of my grandfathers was Irish, the other was Danish ! ) as Denmark isn’t a neutral country.

        • Te be honest the world doesn’t need an Ireland with a full force military. They play an important neutral role and more than contribute to United Nations operations. I think the only issue we have with the Irish is coming to an equitable agreement to police our respective airspace where it makes sense to have a pragmatic agreement between the UK and Ireland to facilitate adequate QRA and maritime SAR for both our interests. No one is coming to invade Ireland and it would be pointless anyway as they would inevitably embargo Guinness exports to the aggressor.

  3. Honestly saying the Danes don’t need much F-35s to assert their sovereignity. In the age of S-400s, F-35s are really little more than expensive toys to appease the bruised egos of the kids of the elites there only. Believe me, nothing can shore up Denmark’s sovereignity more, in the eyes of most countries, than a few tranches of Danish butter cookies and a bevy of Copenhegan beefcakes !

    • It’s been explained before, a SAM cannot be solely relied on for home defence as it’s a binary system. You either shoot down the threat or you do nothing. If you’re implying the F35 cannot take on a modern SAM system it’s a very complex situation.

      • Totally agree, in some respects a SAM system is a liability. This is because they are generally operating from a fixed location and using predominantly ground based radar. This makes them easy to locate and counter. The SAM system should be seen as part of a layered and integrated defence system, with a fighter being seen as the tip of the spear.

        The F35 is not just bling or an overly expensive tool, it has a number of primary goals. One of which is destroying enemy air defences on the first day of a conflict, the other is surviving said attack. Statistically speaking if a conflict did arise between Russia and NATO, it is expected that in the first couple of days, anything between a 1/3 to a 1/2 of NATOs front line aircraft will either be destroyed or damaged in such a way that it won’t meet the next day’s availability. These figures were for fourth generation aircraft. Now if we include a 5th gen aircraft like F22 and F35, the figures are skewed in favour of them. This is because their stealth features, advanced avionics and sensor fusion will give them a distinct advantage in survivability.

        The fallibility of the SAM system has been highlighted recently by both Israel and possibly Egypt/UAE. Israel have repeatedly demonstrated that the S300 and Pantsir systems operating in Syria can easily be overcome. Granted the Turkish SAM system in Libya was the old Hawk MIM-23 medium range system. According to published sources they were attacked by 4th gen aircraft with impunity, where the topography should have been in the SAMs favour.

        The S400 system is a development of the previous S300 system. To counter stealthy targets it uses a minimum of four radars , so that targets can be illuminated from the sides and thus triangulated. The S400 system can control S300 batteries and targeting information from AEW aircraft can be used. The S400 missiles were originally semi-active radar homing with command guidance, however these are gradually be upgraded with active radar sensors. The S400 also has an infra-red and optical back up. Depending on the version of missiles used they can have an altitude of 60km to a minimum of 40m. There are also rumours that the missiles can also be used in a ballistic land attack mode.

        So on the face of it, a pretty bad ass SAM system. But like all ground based systems it has its flaws. It is relatively static, its radars will be detected before they can detect a threat and without AEW support it won’t see objects below the radar horizon. The F35 was designed to counter this system in particular, hence why Turkey got kicked out of the F35 program. The F35 will get significantly closer that a 4th gen aircraft before its detected. But why would a F35 approach the system from medium altitude? If they had any sense they’d approach it from below the horizon, before launching any weapons at it. This is one of the reasons that the S400 is usually guarded by the Pantsir short range air defence system. But Israel have shown how good those are!

    • Yes cookies and butter is all they know i Denmark. Try Google engineering company i India up comes 2 Danish names

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