Denmark reconsidering JSF?

Big picture: The issue with the super hornet is that it's near term. If a country needs an airplane quickly (like AUS after the F-111) buy super hornets. Its even more near term with the factory being close to done. If there is no rush, the F-35 is the better long term solution in every way, including the fact that it's rated for 8,000 hours and SH is 6,000.

So although the internet encourages knee jerk reactions and "buy it now it's cheaper!"governments are looking long term so thr super hornet continues to not sell outside the US with one exception.

Big picture. Hell if Denmark bought the super hornet they would be the sole operator in all of europe. Not helpful

F-35 Procurement Process Begins For Denmark

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

IF the number of hours per year refers to the F-35 pilot hours then that is quite reasonable IF the Danskmen intend to also have an equivalent number of hours+ in the FMS Full Mission Simulators - as the US, UK and Oz intend at moment - AFAIK.

Terma announces teaming for new F-35 avionics test centre
13 Mar 2018 Beth Stevenson

"Terma and Scandinavian Avionics have teamed to form an avionics test centre in Denmark to offer support for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in Europe. Avionics Test Center Denmark will combine the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) experience of Scandinavian Avionics with the electronic and software experience of Terma to provide test and repair of the avionics on board the fighter.

“In order to provide best value to the F-35 programme, Terma and Scandinavian Avionics decided to team up to form Avionics Test Center Denmark,” Jens Maaløe, president and CEO of Terma, says. “We both aim to enhance and grow our MRO capabilities towards the F-35 programme with specific focus on the test and repair of F-35 avionics.”

Source: http://www.janes.com/article/78549/term ... est-centre

No more than this for me....

Exchange Rates Nudge F-35 Price Down For Denmark
14 Mar 2018 Tony Osborne

"LONDON—Favorable foreign exchange rates are helping push down the price of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for Denmark, the Danish government has ..."

Source: http://aviationweek.com/awindefense/exc ... wn-denmark

why do they recommend to buy it now?

Boeing lost their case:

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Boeing (BA.N) lost a lawsuit against Denmark on Friday which related to the Danish government’s decision to buy Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 Lightning II combat jets in preference to Boeing’s F/A 18 Super Hornets.

“Boeing initiated this legal action to gain a better understanding of the evaluation process, in which we believe the Ministry made a number of critical errors and omissions in its evaluation,” Boeing said in a statement on Friday.

Denmark’s defense ministry had denied Boeing access because the U.S. company had not specified which documents it wanted to see, and that it would too large a task to find all documents since preparations for the order began in 2005.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boei ... SKBN1GZ295

Denmark’s air chief on standing up the F-35 and dealing with Russia
14 Jun 2018 Aaron Mehta

"COPENHAGEN, Denmark ― Denmark’s government announced its intent to buy 27 F-35A joint strike fighters in June 2016. The aircraft were meant to become the backbone of the Danish Air Force for years to come. But standing up the jets with a relatively small force, while taking part in operations around the globe, has created a headache for planners in Copenhagen.

Maj. Gen. Anders Rex, Denmark’s chief of the air staff, is in charge of making that transition work. During a recent visit to Copenhagen, Rex sat down with Defense News to explain how that transition will happen and describe the country’s interaction with Russia in recent years.

Q: As Denmark stands up the F-35 and stands down the F-16, the government has a plan for a three-year window, during which it will not take part in foreign operations. What is the thinking there? Does that impact your ability to take part in exercises?... [GOOD INTERVIEW BEST READ AT SOURCE]

…Q: There is a potential issue for your service, with both pilots and maintainers getting older. You expect the average pilot age to be 45 by the time the F-35 is up and running. How do you plan to handle that?

A: We will try to work the demography issue to the best of our ability within the resources we have. That’s hard work because we need to recruit, we need to train ― and especially for the pilots, it’s a lot more expensive to train young, inexperienced, non-fast-jet pilots on the F-35 than it is to train an experienced fast-jet pilot on the F-35. And so we are working hard to make the best of the resources that we have and try to make it work to our advantage.

It’s not a disadvantage to have experienced pilots. It’s never a disadvantage to have pilots. Not that I know the exact ratio or whatnot, [but] I would say about half my pilots have more than 2,000 hours in the F-16. That is extraordinary. And so they still have a lot to give as far as the F-35. So we will have to make that work to our advantage. Same for the maintainers. A lot of, let’s say experienced, maintainers ― but they’ve worked 20, 30, some up to 40 years on fast jets. So they know a lot about the culture, they know a lot about the flight safety, the technical issues. And I think we can get a lot by having them being there, teaching the young guys some of the virtues of handling fast jets...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nato-pr ... th-russia/

Lockheed Martin starts production of Denmark’s first F-35 aircraft

28 JANUARY 2020
Lockheed Martin has started the production of Denmark’s first F-35 fighter aircraft at its plant located in Fort Worth, Texas, US.

The front fuselage for the aircraft, which has arrived on the production line at the plant, will contain the cockpit.

Slated for completion by the end of this year, the F-35 aircraft will arrive at Luke Air Force Base next year.

There the fighter aircraft will be included in the training for the Royal Danish Air Force.

The interns will be in Fort Worth until June this year as part of a special training programme sponsored by Terma.

Denmark joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in 2002 during the system development and demonstration phase and has influenced technical elements of the aircraft. It confirmed plans to procure 27 F-35As in June 2016...

Source: https://www.airforce-technology.com/new ... -aircraft/

Denmark begins F-35 preparations
12 Jun 2020 Gareth Jennings

"Denmark has begun preparations for receiving its first Lockheed Martin F-35A Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) combat aircraft, with the country’s parliament approving construction of facilities and the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) revealing the national livery to adorn the jets.

With the RDAF set to receive the first of its 27-contracted F-35As in 2021, the Danish parliament on 11 June approved legislation to build dedicated facilities at Skveststrup Flyvestation in Southern Jutland ahead of the commencement of type-operations there in 2023.

“With the Folketing’s [Danish Parliament’s] adoption of the Civil Aviation Administration Skrydstrup Act today, construction of the complex to house the next aircraft can begin. First spades will be taken on Monday [15 June] by, among others, Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen and Bjørn Bisserup, Defense Secretary,” the country’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced.

As noted by the MoD, as well as instigating construction work of new F-35 facilities, the adoption of the Civil Aviation Administration Skrydstrup Act activates a compensation scheme for local residents set to be affected by future F-35 aircraft noise in the area. “A broad political majority consisting of the Left, Conservatives, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance, the Radical Left, and the Social Democracy is behind the political agreement to compensate approximately 1,600 homes in the area of the additional noise the F-35 aircraft brings in comparison to the current F-16,” the MoD said...."

Source: https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... eparations

First Danish F-35 takes shape
By George Allison, August 12, 2020

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/first-d ... kes-shape/

The aircraft, with tail number L-001, recently arrived at the Electronic Mate and Alignment Station.
Lockheed Martin say that Electronic Mate and Alignment Station (EMAS) is an electronic compatibility and assembly system designed to perform the final assembly of the front, center and rear of the F-35, as well as the wing module.
[...]
The first Danish F-35 fighter jets will continue to stay in the USA until 2023 before heading to Skrydstrup Air Base in Denmark.

First F-35A for Denmark Progressing Towards Delivery
21 Oct 2020 LM PR

"The first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II for the Royal Danish Air Force is standing with weight on wheels for the first time, a significant milestone for the jet as it moves down the production line at Lockheed Martin’s mile-long assembly plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

Denmark’s first F-35, known as AP-1, was lifted by an overhead crane on September 15 from an electronic mate and alignment station where its forward and rear fuselage sections were joined to the wing-center fuselage assembly. The aircraft will now travel to final assembly, where its control surfaces will be added, along with final systems and engine installation.

AP-1 is due to roll out of the factory in early 2021 and will initially be based at Luke AFB, Arizona, where they will be part of the training of Danish pilots. The reception of the F-35 aircrafts in the Air Force will be completed over a period of six years from 2021 to 2026."

Photo: https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... __main.jpg

Source: https://www.f35.com/news/detail/first-f ... s-delivery