The US approves the sale of surveillance aircraft to Denmark

While President Trump mocks the defense of Greenland and has brought the relationship between the two NATO countries to the freezing point, have the people in State Department (US Department of State) on December 29 nodded yes for the Kingdom to purchase three surveillance aircraft of the P8-Poseidon type from them American Boeing factories, according to a large number of military media, among other things the respected US military journal Janes.

The deal between Boeing and the Kingdom of Denmark has an estimated value of 1.8 billion dollars – approximately 11.5 billion kroner – and includes in addition the planes themselves also training, support and advanced sensor systems.

While President Trump mocks the defense of Greenland and has brought the relationship between the two NATO countries to the freezing point, have the people in State Department (US Department of State) on December 29 nodded yes for the Kingdom to purchase three surveillance aircraft of the P8-Poseidon type from them American Boeing factories, according to a large number of military media, among other things the respected US military journal Janes.

The deal between Boeing and the Kingdom of Denmark has an estimated value of 1.8 billion dollars – approximately 11.5 billion kroner – and includes in addition the planes themselves also training, support and advanced sensor systems.

No contract has yet been signed between the parties, but P8-Poseidon has long been high on the Danish Ministry of Defence's wish list. The planes stayed therefore part of Partial Agreement 2 on the Arctic and the North Atlantic, as Naalakkersuisut, the Faroese national government and the parties to the defense settlement agreement entered into in October.

Standard procedure

The US State Department's approval of a possible trade is normal procedure in connection with the export of weapons systems. Back in May the Swedish government gave permission for Denmark to possibly purchase Swedish surveillance aircraft of the Global Eye type as an alternative to the P8-Poseidon.

It is planned that P8-Poseidon will particularly strengthen the monitoring of The North Atlantic in the so-called GIUK gap between Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Great Britain. P8-Poseidon is used today by a large number of NATO countries, in addition to The USA, among others, Norway, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.

The new surveillance aircraft must first and foremost replace the defence's four Challenger aircraft that were acquired in 1998 and are nearing wear and tear, but P8-Poseidon is only part of the solution, so at some point there may come other aircraft types in play. The Challenger aircraft are also used by the defense for other tasks in Northeast Greenland, where the small jets can land on diminutive gravel runways, like the Challenger is also used for VIP flights with the royal family and the government.

Well-known aircraft type

The P8-Poseidon first flew in 2009. The aircraft is based on Boeing's 737 model, which since its launch in 1966 has sold more than 4,600 copies of. The aircraft type is well known to many in Greenland, where Air Greenland in collaboration with Jettime, the aircraft is used on, among other things, the Narsarsuaq and Billund routes - and that has also been a Boeing 737 from the Danish company Airseven, which has operated the summer route between Nuuk and Aalborg.

In contrast to the current Danish Challenger aircraft, the P8-Poseidon can also carry weapons, for example mines, torpedoes and Harpoon missiles.

The P8-Poseidon has a cruising speed of 815 km/h and a range of 4,500 km. In connection with rescue operations and submarine hunting, the aircraft can last over a position for approximately four hours, depending on the distance to the nearest airport.

Poseidon was in Greek mythology the god of the sea, creator waves by striking with his trident.