Denmark has approved the purchase of 27 F-35 fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F-16s and reaffirm its commitment to its NATO allies, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced on Thursday at a press conference.
“Denmark will continue to make high-level contributions to NATO operations, exercises and capabilities,” Prime Minister Rasmussen said after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Copenhagen. “Our decision today to acquire new fighter aircraft illustrates this determination.”
The Danish government had announced in early May that it had chosen Lockheed Martin’s F-35 over Eurofighter’s Typhoon and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
The investment, valued by Copenhagen at 20 billion kroner (€2.7 billion), was approved on Thursday by the majority of the political parties represented in the Folketinget, Denmark's unicameral parliament, including the opposition Social Democrats.
Denmark is one of a number of countries partnering the United States, along with the UK, Canada and Turkey, in financing the development of the F-35 multirole stealth fighter.
The F-35s, to be delivered between now and 2026, will replace 30 F-16 aircraft currently in service with the Danish air force.
The visit of the Polish President comes as the Atlantic Alliance is conducting military manoeuvres, since Monday, in Poland - its largest since the end of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989 - amid tensions between the West and Russia.
