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MILITARY

Danish military sends tanks on foreign mission for first time since 2003

Danish tanks are to take part in a mission on foreign soil for the first time since they returned from the Balkan region in 2003, the country’s armed forces have stated.

Published: 7 September 2022 13:52 CEST
Danish military sends tanks on foreign mission for first time since 2003
One of Denmark's Leopard 2 A7 tanks on display in 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Denmark’s military, Forsvaret, is to send 14 Leopard 2A7 tanks to Estonia as part of a Nato mission, it confirmed in a press statement.

“We are talking about a mission which in many ways is historic. It is the first time the upgraded Leopard 2A7 has been sent on an international mission,” lieutenant colonel Kristian Kold said in the statement.

“And it is the first time we are sending a squadron with four-wheeled units and a total of 14 tanks on an international mission,” he said.

The mission has been planned for some time and aims to demonstrate Denmark’s solidarity with the Baltic states and Poland, according to the military.

A total of 160 Danish soldiers will take part in the British-led battalion to which the tanks are being sent.

“By sending soldiers and tanks to Estonia, we are taking part in managing one of Nato’s security challenges which is a result of Russia’s intensified presence in the Baltic region and the war in Ukraine,” Major General Gunner Arpe Nielsen, head of the army, said in the statement.

“Our skilled soldiers play an important role in securing Nato’s eastern flank,” Nielsen said.

The tanks are scheduled to initially be transported from West Jutland town Holstebro to a temporary military area at the port in Fredericia on Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Denmark to send 800 Nato troops to Latvia

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MILITARY

US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

US troops are planning to take part in a military exercise on the island of Bornholm next month, marking the third time in three years US soldiers have trained on Danish soil.

Published: 27 April 2024 10:38 CEST
US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

Denmark’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, revealed the planned exercise, which will take plance between May 1st and May 7th in a briefing to the Danish parliament’s defence committee.

As part of the exercise, US troops will ship an unnamed weapons system to Bornholm Airport, and then set it up in a military exercise area, but would not then fire any shots or missiles. 

“The exercise has a military training aspect, but also sends a signal about the solidarity of the alliance, about American commitment to security in Europe and in our own immediate area,” Lund Poulsen said in the briefing.

US troops took part in similar exercises in 2022 and 2023 on the strategically placed island, which lies 360km away from the Russian and controls access to the western Baltic. 

The US had requested permission to train on Bornholm, which the Danish government then accepted. There is no change in Danish armed forces’ assessment of the threat against Bornholm or Denmark, Lund Poulsen stressed. 

In December, Denmark entered into an agreement with the US, which permits US soldiers and equipment to be kept permanently on Danish soil, with hte US granted access to the Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg air bases.

When US troops held a similar exercise on the island in 2022, with a large missile system deployed to the island, the Russian ambassador to Denmark sent an official warning. 

“This can be seen as taking a step towards changing Bornholm from an island of peace to a potential military bridgehead,” Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, told the Danish broadcaster TV2.

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