Denmark reorients ships to defend the Arctic

The Scandinavian country is adapting the design of its ships due to the changing security situation in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic.

The Danish Ministry of Defense has decided to change the design of its future patrol ships, focusing their functionality on Arctic missions. This is written by Naval News.

The contract for the construction of the ships, which was awarded to the Danske Patruljeskibe K/S consortium in 2023, will be adjusted in accordance with the country’s new defense needs. This decision was made as part of the first partial defense agreement for the Arctic and North Atlantic.

“The situation has changed since the decision was made in 2021. We are in a period of serious geopolitical changes, and the Danish Ministry of Defense needs to modernize the fleet by replacing the outdated Thetis-class ships. Therefore, we are reorienting our project to focus specifically on Arctic ships,” said Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.

The Danish Defense Command insists on replacing the Thetis-class ships, which require significant maintenance, as soon as possible. In return, the new Arctic ships will be more efficient and mobile, which is especially important for operations in Greenland waters. Their design is expected to provide significantly higher operational readiness in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

“The work that has been done will not be in vain. Thanks to the change in priorities, we can start building Arctic ships faster, because we do not have to go through the laborious process of developing a new project from scratch. In addition, some of the work on patrol ships and Danish shipbuilding experience will be reused,” Poulsen noted.

USM recently reported that the Danish government is strengthening defense capabilities in the Arctic and North Atlantic regions against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.