Danish Defence



The armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark, known as the Danish Defence (Forsvaret) is charged with the defence of Denmark and its overseas territories, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Queen Margrethe II is the de jure Commander-in-Chief per the Danish constitution, however according to the Danish Defence Law the Minister of Defence serves as the commander of the Danish Defence (through the Chief of Defence and the Defence Command) and the Danish Home Guard (through the Home Guard Command). De facto the Danish Cabinet is the commanding authority of the Defence, though it cannot mobilize the armed forces, for purposes that are not strictly defence oriented, without the consent of parliament.

Denmark also has a concept of "total defence" (Totalforsvar).

Purpose and task
The purpose and task of the armed forces of Denmark is defined in Law no. 122 of February 27, 2001 and in force since March 1, 2001. It defines three purposes and six tasks.

Its primary purpose is to prevent conflicts and war, preserve the sovereignty of Denmark, secure the continuing existence and integrity of the independent Kingdom of Denmark and further a peaceful development in the world with respect to human rights.

Its primary tasks are: NATO participation in accordance with the strategy of the alliance, detect and repel any sovereignty violation of Danish territory (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), defence cooperation with non-NATO members, especially Central and East European countries, international missions in the area of conflict prevention, crises-control, humanitarian, peacemaking, peacekeeping, participation in Total Defence in cooperation with civilian resources and finally maintenance of a sizable force to execute these tasks at all times.

Defence budget
Since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties. However, public opposition to increases in defence spending—during a period when economic constraints require reduced spending for social welfare—has created differences among the political parties regarding a broadly acceptable level of new defence expenditure.

The latest Defence agreement ("Defence agreement 2005–2009") was signed June 10, 2004, and calls for a significant re-construction of the entire military. From now about 60% support structure and 40% combat operational capability, it is to be 40% support structure and 60% combat operational capability, i.e. more combat soldiers and fewer "paper"-soldiers. The reaction speed is increased, with an entire brigade on standby readiness; the military retains the capability to continually deploy 2,000 soldiers in international service or 5,000 over a short time span. The standard mandatory conscription is modified. Generally this means fewer conscripts, less service time for them and only those who choose so, will continue into the reaction force system.

Expenditures
In 2006 the Danish military budget was the fifth largest single portion of the Danish Government's total budget, significantly less than that of the Ministry of Social Affairs (~110 billion DKK), Ministry of Employment (~67 billion DKK), Ministry of the Interior and Health (~66 billion DKK) and Ministry of Education (~30 billion DKK) and only slightly larger than that of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (~14 billion DKK). This list lists the complete expenditures for the Danish Ministry of Defence.

The Danish Defence, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year. They are not deducted in this listing.

Approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Depending on year, 50–53% accounts for payment to personnel, roughly 14–21% on acquiring new material, 2–8% for larger ships, building projects or infrastructure and about 24–27% on other items, including purchasing of goods, renting, maintenance, services and taxes.

The remaining 5% is special expenditures to NATO, branch shared expenditures, special services and civil structures, here in including running the Danish Maritime Safety Administration, Danish national rescue preparedness and the Administration of Conscientious Objectors (Militærnægteradministrationen).

Because Denmark has a small and highly specialized military industry, the vast majority of the Danish Defence's equipment is imported from NATO and the Nordic countries.

Branches

 * Royal Danish Army—Hæren (HRN)
 * Royal Danish Navy—Søværnet (SVN)
 * Royal Danish Air Force—Flyvevåbnet (FLV)
 * Danish Home Guard—Hjemmeværnet (HJV)

Structure

 * Ministry of Defence (: Forsvarsministeriet (FMN))
 * Defence Command (: Forsvarskommandoen (FKO)) (intl. abb: DADEFCOM)
 * Army Operational Command (: Hærens Operative Kommando (HOK)) (intl. abb: DAAROPCOM)
 * Admiral Danish Fleet (: Søværnets Operative Kommando (SOK)) (intl. abb: ADMDANFLT)
 * Tactical Air Command (: Flyvertaktisk Kommando (FTK)) (intl. abb: DAAIRCOM)
 * Arctic Command (: Arktisk Kommando (AKO)) (intl. abb: ARCCOM)
 * Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (: Forsvarets Materieltjeneste (FMT))
 * Danish Defence Personnel Service (: Forsvarets Personeltjeneste (FPT))
 * Danish Defence IT Agency (: Forsvarets Koncernfælles Informatik Tjeneste (FKIT))
 * Defence Estates & Infrastructure Organisation (: Forsvarets Bygnings- og etablissementstjeneste (FBE))
 * Danish Armed Forces Health Services (: Forsvarets Sundhedstjeneste (FSU))
 * Royal Danish Defence College (: Forsvarsakademiet (FAK))
 * Home Guard Command (: Hjemmeværnskommandoen (HJVK))
 * Defence Intelligence Service (: Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE)) (intl. abb: DDIS)
 * Judge Advocate Corps (: Forsvarets Auditørkorps (FAUK))
 * Defence Internal Auditor (: Forsvarets Interne Revision (FIR))
 * Emergency Management Agency (: Beredskabsstyrelsen (BRS)) (intl. abb: DEMA)
 * Administration of Conscientious Objector (: Militærnægteradministrationen (MNA))

Special forces

 * Jægerkorpset: Ground based infiltration unit.
 * Frømandskorpset: Amphibious attack and infiltration unit.
 * Slædepatruljen Sirius: Arctic dog sled unit patrolling the eastern border of Greenland.

Current deployments
Current deployment of Danish forces:
 * Approx. 30 Home Guard soldiers in Kosovo participating in NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), Guarding the French Camp Novo Selo
 * Approx. 748 soldiers in Afghanistan
 * Approx. 168 soldiers attached to NATO's Standing NRF Maritime Group 1.

Conscription
Technically all Danish 18-year-old males are conscripts (37,897 in 2010), and 53% (2010) were considered suitable for duty. There is no need for all of them so only a few of them serve (5129 in 2010). Ninety-one percent of the conscripts were volunteers. There were additionally 567 female "conscripts" in 2010.


 * Conscripts in the Royal Life Guards serve eight months, because it is preferable to have conscripts guarding the Queen.
 * Conscripts in the horse squadron of the Guard Hussars serve 12 months, because it takes time to learn how to ride a horse.
 * Conscripts in the Danish army in general serve four months.
 * Conscripts on the royal yacht Dannebrog serve nine months.
 * Conscripts in the Danish navy in general serve four months.
 * Conscripts in the Danish air force serve four months.
 * Conscripts in the Danish Emergency Management Agency serve six months.