Royal Danish Air Force
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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.
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[edit] 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 [1] and 3 P.R.Mk. XI in 1947-48 [2] which were operated by units of Hærens Flyvertropper (Danish Army Air Corps) and Marinens Flyvevæsen (Danish Navy Flying Service). Four additional airframes were acquired for ground instruction.
The two services were merged in 1950 to form the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF)[2] 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.[3]
In the 1960s and 1970s the RDAF operated a number of US financed Lockheed F-104G Starfighters, North American F-100D and F Super Sabres and several other types. In 1971 the danish army created the Danish Army Air Corps as the first air-unit outside the air force, since its creation in 1950 and in 1977 the Danish Naval Air Squadron was extracted from squadron 722 to the Danish Navy. In January 1980 the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon was introduced.
In 1999 following the end of the Cold War the 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 honour its domestic commitments.
In 2002 Denmark joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Team, up to 48 F-35 may be bought to replace the F-16.
In October 2002 a tri-national detachment of 18 Danish, Dutch and Norwegian F-16 ground attack aircraft and one Dutch KDC-10 tanker, deployed to Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan in support of ground forces in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2004 the original Lockheed C-130H Hercules fleet of 3 aircraft (bought in 1973) was replaced by 3 advanced C-130Js.
In 2005 a modification program (Mid Life Update) was completed on the surviving F-16 aircraft. The modification programme started in 1995 introduces 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 next generation aircraft. Contenders are Boeing's F/A-18EF Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter and Saab's Gripen. EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon withdrew from the contest on the grounds that the changes in the bidding process made the company feel that US aircraft were favored.
In 2003 16 H-500 Cayuse and 13 Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec from the Danish Army Air Corps and 8 Westland Lynx Mk. 90B from the Danish Naval Air Squadron was supposed to be transferred to the airforce. The 17 Cayuse and 13 Fennec helicopters was transferred to the newly created Squadron 724. The 8 Lynx helicopters was supposed to enter another new squadron, Squadron 728, but for political reasons these helicopters stayed in the navy.
In 2005 the 16 Cayuses was decomissioned as well as 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 RDAF signed a letter of intent to purchase the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, the order is to be confirmed but is to be on the basis of a shared NATO C-17 fleet to support international deployments.
Denmark’s six transport EH101s were transferred to the British Royal Air Force in June 2007 to meet an urgent British requirement for additional transport helicopters. In return, Denmark will later receive new build replacements from Agusta-Westland paid for by the British government. [1]
[edit] 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).
- 4 Lockheed C-130J-30 Hercules pennant letter B
- 3 Canadair CL-604 Challenger pennant letter C
- Eskadrille 721 (Squadron 721).
- Helicopter Wing Karup based at Karup AB.
- Esk 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
- Esk 724
- 12 Eurocopter AS550C2 Fennec pennant letter P
- Supporting services for the Danish Naval Air Squadron (da: Søværnets Helikoptertjeneste)
- 8 Westland Lynx 90 pennant letter S
- Esk 722 (Helicopters are staged around in Denmark for Search and Rescue duties)
- Fighter Wing Skrydstrup based at Skrydstrup AB.
- Esk 727
- Esk 730
- Both squadrons: 48 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
[edit] 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.
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[edit] 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[4] |
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[5] |
[edit] 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 |
|
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 |
[edit] References
[edit] See also
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