The Chairman of the Danish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Aastrup Jensen from the Venstre party, revealed yesterday, 12 June, that discussions are ongoing in the Danish Parliament regarding the reacquisition of their own submarines, which Breaking Defense was the first to report on. Denmark decommissioned its entire submarine fleet in 2004. In neighbouring Norway, the Norwegian Chief of Defence has recently expressed a desire to increase the number of ordered submarines from four to six, prioritising this over the acquisition of new frigates.

At a panel discussion organised by the American think tank Hudson Institute, Aastrup Jensen participated alongside the chairpersons of the foreign affairs committees from Lithuania and Estonia. The panel addressed topics such as defence investments, expectations for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, and support for Ukraine. During his speech, Aastrup Jensen shared the following information:

- We have rapidly increased our defence spending from 1.35% to the minimum requirement of 2% of GDP. We are therefore in complete agreement that this constitutes a minimum level. If NATO were to agree to raise the requirement to 2.5% or 3.0% of GDP, we have already clarified that we will reach that level as soon as possible.

He continues:

- We see how Russia is establishing military bases in the Arctic that threaten Greenland; we see Russian military aircraft over the Faroe Islands, so we must strengthen our defence of the Faroe Islands and the North Sea; and of course, we also see threats to the Baltic Sea. Denmark is very strategically located, Russian naval vessels must pass through our waters if they come from St Petersburg or Kaliningrad.

This is an awakening for us. It should not be, but it is.

In the subsequent discussion, the moderator says, "For a very long time, Bornholm was one of the most strategically important areas in NATO, now Åland and soon also Gotland are on the list of islands that are strategically important for NATO. How does this change the defence of the Baltic Sea area?"

- Currently, negotiations are ongoing in the Danish Parliament. This year we will reach the threshold of 2% of GDP for defence spending, but it is still not sufficient to have a fully satisfactory defence capability. We must establish stronger cooperation with our Finnish, Swedish, and Norwegian friends and ask how we can support each other. For example, we no longer have submarines, which means we do not have sufficient anti-submarine warfare capability.

- Right now, there is a discussion about whether we should acquire our own submarines or establish closer cooperation with countries that already have or plan to acquire submarines. We are considering whether we should strive for a comprehensive defence without being perfect in every area, or whether we should aim to be perfect in certain areas while our partners become perfect in others.

Denmark is not the only Scandinavian country seeing an increased need for underwater capability. Last week, the Norwegian Defence published the Chief of Defence's military advice, The Military Advice of the Chief of Defence 2023, which was commissioned by the Norwegian government in November. In it, Chief of Defence Eirik Kristoffersen writes that the number of submarines in the future fleet should increase from four to six, which would double operational availability. He continues to write that this takes priority over acquiring six instead of four frigates. The Norwegian Submarine Service currently operates six Ula-class submarines, which were produced in the 80s and 90s. According to Janes Defence, two of these are to be decommissioned and the remaining four will gradually be replaced by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems' Type 212CD.