
Tony Osborne | Aviation Week & Space Technology
The Danish defense ministry has begun the process of purchasing its F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
Government publications published on Nov. 16 reveal the defense ministry has requested 16.374 billion Danish Krones ($2.62 billion) to buy the 27 F-35As, engines, four simulators and a pool purchase of spares, support equipment, modification work and upgrades up to 2026.
The Danish purchase will take place in phases, with a contract and order for 10 aircraft expected to be signed in 2018. Four of the aircraft will be delivered in 2021, and six in 2022. The purchase of the remaining 17 aircraft will be carried out through a “series of subsequent payments,” through 2027. The Danish aircraft will be initially delivered to Luke AFB, Arizona, to support initial pilot training; other nations operating F-35s have followed the same procedure. The aircraft will then be transferred in stages to the Danish air base at Skrydstrup, near the German border, which will become Denmark’s main F-35 operating base in 2022.
The documents state that although all the Danish F-35s will be based in-country from 2022, “there may be a need for an additional training flight in the U.S.”
Copenhagen says its aircraft will be delivered in two configurations: The first 10 will be delivered in Technology Refresh 2 (TR-2), while the remaining 17 will arrive in TR-3, which will bring several changes to the cockpit. Several companies, including Elbit and Harris, have already declared their involvement in these upgrade packages. The first 10 aircraft will be upgraded to TR-3 standard later.
Work to prepare the Skrydstrup airbase for the F-35 is expected to cost around 650 million Krone, although the documents say this does not cover contingency work in case of crisis and war, which would mean that additional investments might be needed. Permission to begin construction is expected in 2019.
Denmark’s 27 F-35s will replace a roughly 48-strong fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons, which have been upgraded to Mid-Life Update standard. The F-16s will be used for national defense tasks until 2023. In 2024, F-16 and F-35 operations will be briefly concurrent until the F-35 assumes the role entirely in 2025. Copenhagen will not be able to perform any international missions with its fighters in 2022-27 as the air force transitions between the two types, although the F-35 could perform “limited international operations” beginning in 2025 if needed.
Copenhagen says the costs associated with the program are uncertain, but the defense ministry estimates it will take 57 billion Krone to maintain the fleet up to 2049. This is based on each aircraft being flown around 250 hr. per year. The documents state that the number of pilots now flying the F-16 will be trimmed to 62 from 70 to “contribute to a smoother transition from the F-16 pilot structure to the F-35 pilot structure.”
Based on those numbers, each Danish pilot can expect to fly around 110 hr. per year. Aircraft availability is expected to be around 72%, which the documents say should be possible thanks to the increased reliability seen in later production series model aircraft.
The defense ministry says its assumptions are “ambitious, but realistic” and that the capacity built into the program will be able to meet Copenhagen’s political needs. However, a need for additional aircraft is not ruled out.
The documentation was released just weeks after the Rigsrevisionen, the country’s national audit office, questioned whether the 27 F-35s would be capable of delivering all the required tasks. The report, published at the beginning of November, said that assumptions associated with flying hours may lead to underestimates in the costs allocated to cover risks, which it says could lead to increased life-cycle costs.
http://www.aviationweek.com/combat-aircraft/f-35-procurement-process-begins-Denmark