No change in Danish plan to buy US F35 jets

https://www.thelocal.dk/20250327/no-change-in-danish-plan-to-buy-us-f35-jets?cx_testId=1&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=2&cx_experienceId=EXWA9YBDYS9Z&cx_experienceActionId=showRecommendations7K8UPQSWC73311#cxrecs_s

by Hussard_Fou

38 comments

  1. Full text:

    **Denmark still plans to buy more US F-35 fighter jets despite strained relations with Donald Trump, who wants to annex its autonomous territory of Greenland.**

    “We have to strengthen our fleet of fighter jets and it is completely logical to acquire more F-35 fighter jets,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told the Børsen newspaper after Denmark announced a huge increase in defence spending.

    Poulsen’s department declined to give more details about any future order when contacted by AFP.

    Questions about whether it is wise for Denmark to keep buying weapons from the United States have been put into sharp focus since Trump’s rapprochement with Russia and threats of aggression against Canada and Greenland.

    Canada said this month that it would re-examine its purchase of F-35s and look at other options.

    But Poulsen said: “It’s completely unrealistic to think that we could stop cooperating with the United States and buying its military equipment.

    “It’s problematic to see a new US administration say things with which we don’t agree but to pull the plug on more than 75 years of cooperation is, in my opinion, completely wrong.”

    Since December and Trump’s first announcements that he intends to annex Greenland, the Arctic island’s politicians, backed by Copenhagen, have said the territory is not for sale but “open for business”.

    The first of 27 F-35 jets already bought and ordered by Denmark should be operational next month.

  2. No country should buy smart weapons for which you don’t have direct access and knowledge to the source code of its software.

  3. I could understand if it was Trump first term and we expected that things will go back “to normal” after 4 years but it is now the second time he’s elected and what they are doing is a lot more concerning this time, it is not just an accident at this point and the faster we aknowledge the 75 years of cooperation are over, the better, especially for Denmark.

  4. The real question is: how many free F-35s does Greenland cost?

  5. This is what being in an abusive relationship looks like.

  9. Yhh and it’s not just the F35s. I live in Denmark and you can see a lot of people driving a Tesla. Yes, sales have decreased massively since the start of the Trump admin and Musk’s role in it but him getting cozy with the far-right didnt start in january.

  11. I wonder how do the “people in the street” feels about that?

  12. “We need to buy advanced US weapons to defend our territory from aggressive US.”

    LMAO

  14. Ridiculous, buying planes from a country which is openly trying to take your territory

  16. Europe doesn’t have too many options atm. We need to build our own production capabilities that exclude US reliance, but in the mean time we need weapons.

  17. Its hard for Danish politicians to stop their allegiance to USA, even when its obviously stupid.
    Before ww2 the politicians were German orientated

  18. Denmark really bet all its horses on the US even going as far as helping the US spying on the EU and its leaders

    Guess now is the best time for a complete 180 and going the full EU route

  19. Dane here

    Our defense minister is horribly unqualified for his job.
    Trump is literally threatening our Tradeblock (the EU) with tarrifs and our fucking country with military annexation.

    We should get out of that platform ASAP and invest in Eurofigther or *Saab 39 Gripen*

    Man i hate this government

  20. >”It’s problematic to see a new US administration say things with which we don’t agree but to pull the plug on more than 75 years of cooperation is, in my opinion, completely wrong.”

    Denmark utterly fails to read the room.

    I’m no expert in geopolitics, but when one country threatens to invade another country and says it will take part of its territory, one way or the other, I’d say the plug is pulled.

    If Denmark continues down this path, history books written by the remaining free and democratic countries will not be kind. Chamberlain at least rearmed Britain in the meanwhile.

  21. The installed firmware will make them dysfunctional above Greenland…

  22. It’s a huge debate here right now. The reasons they have stated is that their fighter pilots have been trained in the F35s already, and orders/plans for new jets were made prior to Trump losing his mind.

    When asked about the concern that the US could make them defunct, the defense ministry replied that spare parts for F35s come from the EU, and we could then refuse to supply them in retaliation. I believe they phrased it: “If ours don’t work, neither will theirs.”

    I think most Danes think it is crazy to buy military equipment from a country that is threatening our territory. At the same time, we also have to trust that there are people in the DM who know more about these things than we do.

  24. The greatest US ally in the EU strikes again. Remember when Denmark was spying on EU leaders on behalf of the US?

    They haven’t learned a thing and Greenland deserves better than Denmark. Obviously not the US, but the rest of the EU should get ready to defend Greenland because Denmark cannot he trusted.

  25. what can you expect from Denmark ?

    Systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable,” came a recent comment from Danish Defence Minister Trine Bramsen. And yet, it appears this is exactly what Denmark has been doing. Bramsen was responding to reporting that revealed the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, or FE) had cooperated with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to enable spying on several European partners and close allies.

  27. It’s realistically impossible. Unfortunatly.

    A combat fleet composed by two different jets is unsustainable for Denmark and the other European countries which procured the F-35 as their only combat aircraft (The Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Romania, even Switzerland).

    The F-35 also has overall capabilities that the 4.5 generation “eurocanards” objectively can’t match.

    All European nations that have already signed contracts for F-35 acquisition are not going to back out of them. It’s just unrealistic.

    There are other defence areas and assets on which European nations can and should successfully cooperate, achievieng more independence from the US. We shouldn’t focus too much on the F-35 alone.

    For instance, as we’re speaking of Denmark: they are on track to select an air defence system, and while we’re talking only about a single battery, selecting the European-made SAMP/T-NG would send a strong message.

  28. Given the size of the Danish air force and the very tight integration with the Norwegians, who also use F35s, it’s not feasible to find other solutions. I don’t think anybody is particularly happy about it.

  30. I don’t think you can get out of those contracts as easily, the President of Finland was saying the other day that those purchases are a 10-year process.

  31. This what’s Europe’s defense plan is going to look like. They’d rather bribe trump than take their future into their own hands

  34. Have they explained the logic of buying military equipment from a country threatening to invade their territory ?

  35. There might soon need to be an industry to “jail break” F35s so that if a newly Fascist US decides to screw with them, you could still use them for effectively.

  36. So the US is going to invade Denmark basically, and said they’d sell us lesser jets (10% less) in case an ally ever becomes an enemy. And you still buy them? Why don’t you make them some tea also, and get them some eggs.

  37. I am Swedish and if the Americans threatened to take let’s say Gotland with force I would consider it tantamount to treason to keep buying anything from them.

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