The Danish Government has proposed to strengthen the Danish defence in response to the serious threats Denmark faces. In a political proposal launched on October 11, 2017 Minister of Defence Claus Hjort Frederiksen (Liberal) proposed a spending increase of DKK 4.8 billion by 2023 to further ensure the security, safety and freedom of the Danish people. The Danish defence budget currently at DKK 21,7 billion (2017) will gradually be increased to DKK 26,5 billion in 2023 sporting a total increase of DKK 12,8 billion over the next six years. Out of this 20% or DKK 2,56 billion is earmarked for new defence acquisitions.
“The Government takes the security of Danes seriously, and we back our words with action. We will therefore substantially strengthen the Danish Defence by allocating an additional DKK 4.8 billion to defence spending by 2023. This amounts to an increase of over 20 percent. The Government’s proposal for a new defence agreement is a substantial investment in the Danish Defence as a strong safeguard of Denmark and underscores our determination to maintain our position as a core ally in NATO”, said minister of Defence Claus Hjort Frederiksen, who presented the proposal at a press conference co-hosted by Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Liberal).
The increased Defence spending is aimed at enhancing the Danish Defence’s ability to contribute to collective deterrence and the defence of NATO by and includes four big ticket items:
▪ Establishing a brigade with new and more heavy units and enhanced capabilities, including more battle tanks, groundbased air-defence, anti-tank weapons and additional artillery. This will allow Denmark to deploy roughly 4,000 soldiers in a potent, independent unit with its own command structure, tanks and artillery, intelligence units and logistics by 2024
▪ Fitting the Royal Danish Navy’s frigates with both short-range and, eventually, long-range missiles (SM2 and SM6) to counter hostile aircraft and several types of missiles
▪ Fitting the Royal Danish Navy’s frigates with sonar and antitorpedo systems and its maritime helicopters with dipping sonar and torpedoes to engage in anti-submarine warfare
▪ Enhancing the ability of the Danish Defence and Home Guard to mobilise approx. 20,000 soldiers and deploy a supplementary reserve force of approx. 4,000 soldiers from the reserves.
The proposed increase will ultimately improve the Danish Defence’s annual budget by more than 20% compared to today. At the same time, with the significant investment in major equipment over the budget period, Denmark will live up to the NATO target of allocating 20% of defence spending on investments in major equipment. However, the proposal still sets Denmark far away from the 2 %/GDP threshold set by NATO and heavily emphasized by US president Donald Trump. Currently, the Danish Defence spend amounts to 1,17 % of the Danish GDP and while it’s impossible to say what the percentage will be in 2023, it’s safe to say that Denmark will still be lagging substantially behind the NATO target.
| Billion DKK | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Defence Budget increase | – | 0,8 | 0,8 | 1,7 | 1,9 | 2,8 | 4,8 |
| Total Defence budget | 21,7 | 22,5 | 22,5 | 23,4 | 23,6 | 24,5 | 26,5 |
Also, the budget proposal increases Danish defence spending incrementally with very small increases in the first two years (2018-2019) pushing the bulk of the increase five years out to 2023. At the same time, the Danish government has launched budget reductions amounting to approx. DKK 1 billion annually following an efficiency analysis prepared by the private consulting firm Strueense & Co. Effectively this means that Danish defence will see very little budget improvements until 2020.
The Danish government proposal for a new Defence agreement and budget for the coming six years will nov commence and are expected to conclude before the end of November. Political insiders confirm that most of the content of the government package has already been cleared with key political parties, including the key Social Democratic party that traditionally has been wary of increasing defence budgets too much. Minister of Defence Hjort Frederiksen is convinced that the government proposal will succeed.
“We are faced today with a more unpredictable security situation which we cannot afford to ignore. That is why we need to have a strengthened and more robust Danish Defence. The Government’s proposal will ensure that we protect the safety and security of the Danish people, which is essential given the world we live in today,” said Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen.