By GEN H.J. HELSØ, Chief of Defence Denmark

The dynamics of the international system and the ever changing expectations to modern armed forces require an iterative process of fundamental transformation in order for the armed forces to stay relevant, adaptive and credible as a political tool.

The Security Environment

The National Context
The fundamental objectives of Danish foreign policy are to promote Denmark’s sovereignty, its security, and Danish interests and prosperity.

Over the past ten to fifteen years, Danish foreign and security policy as well as Defence policy have become increasingly more active and extrovert. The Danish armed forces are an important part of the Danish contribution to a peaceful development in the world promoting the norms and values of international rule of law, human rights and democracy.

In this, the purpose of the Danish armed forces is to counter direct and indirect threats to the security of Denmark and allied countries; to maintain Danish sovereignty and the protection of Danish citizens; and to work towards international peace and security in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter, especially through conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peacemaking and humanitarian operations.

The Ever Changing International Security Policy Situation
An article like this is bound to mention the changing international security policy situation and take into account the permanent nature of change. In reality, change in requirements and demands to adapt to new contexts have been part of every military’s existence since the dawn of time. The really new aspect is the ever increasing speed with which these change requirements occurs.

During the Cold War, the international system was relatively static and stable. The immediate future was predictable: “Tomorrow” was probably going to be like “today”, which again was like “yesterday”.

The end of the Cold War period suddenly added dynamics and unpredictability to the international state of affairs. The mistake of many military organisations was to perceive this as a shift from one stable state of affairs to another, an assumed New World Order, without adjusting accordingly. The attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon 11 September 2001, and the subsequent interventions in Afghanistan and in Iraq provided the basis for a reassessment of this attitude and proved it necessary to focus on offensive flexibility, deployability and effects rather than static defence structures.

As other nations, Denmark has recognised this and is currently in the process of fundamentally restructuring and adapting its armed forces to the new challenges.

The restructuring is influenced by three primary factors: The global development trends; the threat environment; and the primary international actors and organisations.

From a Danish perspective the main global trends shaping the international security environment are globalisation; the “Revolution in Military Affairs” and the use of military means.

Globalisation, interpreted as increased transactions at increased speed of currencies; goods; services; knowledge; ideas; and people, is the determining factor in the global trends. Comprising these characteristics, it could be pivotal to the promotion and spreading of democracy and human rights, economic integration and free trade, growth and prosperity. It could be argued that this is not always the case. But the fact remains that it makes open, democratic societies more vulnerable to external events as nations become more and more interdependent.

The so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) or rather the technological evolution has led to a reduction in the costs and risks involved in the use of military force. Today, military assets can be rapidly deployed at superior strength against most opponents delivering the desired effects at surgical precision, thereby reducing the loss of civilian lives and collateral damage to a historically low level.

Consequently, as proved by the experiences from Afghanistan and Iraq, wars fought on a technologically high level with precision guided munitions and deployable capabilities under unprecedented situational awareness have made the use of military force a valid tool in the toolbox of the security policy makers (a more preferred club in their golf bag). In the immediate future, further development of net-based operations will support this trend and make it even more evident. As part of the ongoing transformation and development of relevant capabilities, Danish armed forces has mapped the current state of the armed forces’ ability to conduct net-based operations and has begun implementing a plan to enable and upgrade this ability. This will be one of the determining factors in future transformation.

The Asymmetry of threats
Turning to the threat environment as an influencing factor on the restructuring of the armed forces, the international security situation entailing the enlargement of both the EU and NATO, underlines the non-existence of a conventional threat against Danish territory for a foreseeable future. This has finally led us to realise that there is no longer need for the massive territorial defence forces of the past. In the long term perspective, if such a threat should emerge, technological developments will allow us or force us to counter such a threat by approaches very different to what we planned for during the Cold War.

Terror attacks against Western countries have demonstrated the challenges and risks facing Denmark. They have changed markedly by adding new asymmetric and unpredictable threats against Denmark and Danish nationals abroad from international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The threats do not necessarily have to originate from Denmark’s geographical proximity, but may nevertheless constitute a risk to Denmark, our allies and our common values even if they manifest themselves abroad. Conflicts in Europe’s neighbouring regions will continue to influence Denmark’s recently acquired and unique level of security from conventional military threats. Thus, these conflicts could constitute an indirect threat against Danish interests.

Future threats against Denmark will not be determined by Denmark’s geographical position. Instead, there is a need to counter the threats were they develop and/or emerge.

Therefore, the future Danish armed forces will be structured from a capability-based approach whereby a wide range of capabilities can be made available in situations where Danish security or Danish interests are directly or indirectly threatened or affected or where Danish responsibilities within the international co-operation make this necessary. The unpredictable nature of the threats requires priority given to military readiness and the ability to deploy military capabilities wherever they are needed, regardless of whether this involves humanitarian efforts; peace support operations; emergency situations in or outside Denmark or participation in international military operations.

Primary International Actors and Organisations
Transformation of an entire military organisation is obviously formed by its relations with external bodies or primary co-operative arrangements.

I acknowledge that the US is the only super power and that US participation in solving international issues regardless of topic is a prerequisite for success. Even though the US focus on their own national security interests since “9-11” has increased, a strong co-operation between Europe and the US is a pre-requisite for the development of a stable and secure international world order. Therefore, it is important to Denmark and to its armed forces to maintain and strengthen the traditionally strong transatlantic link.

The UN
The UN with its universal mandate is the only realistic framework for an international system based on the rule of law and democratic norms. Without the UN, I find it difficult to envisage the creation of a system based on these values.

In recent years, the UN has developed to become more efficient in its ability to decide and engage in peace support operations and this development should be supported. At the same time, the ability of the UN and regional organisations to prevent and resolve conflicts, e.g. in Africa, should be strengthened.

Denmark is a member of the UN Security Council for the period 2005-6. As a member of the Security Council, Denmark contributes from the perspective of a small Nordic country deeply committed to international co-operation and with an extensive knowledge of UN-led military operations.

Since the end of World War II, Denmark has contributed to UN missions with armed forces as well as staff officers and military observers. We will continue to do so. A major Danish commitment to UN operations is offered through the Multinational United Nations Stand-by Forces High Readiness Brigade, SHIRBRIG. SHIRBRIG was conceived in 1994, with Denmark as one of its prime initiators.

The EU
The long-lasting enlargement process of the EU consolidates a peace zone in an ever growing part of Europe. The EU could be seen as a natural framework for a broad co-operation in order to handle problems and counter threats against the European continent, e.g. from terrorism, proliferation of WMD, organised crime and illegal migration.

However, Denmark has only limited possibilities to gain from this due to the opt-outs on EU defence matters.

If the Danish opt-out on defence matters is removed, Denmark intends to contribute with military capabilities to EU efforts outside the EU area within the spectrum of peace enforcement, peace keeping, conflict prevention, humanitarian operations and the strengthening of international security in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter.

This decision is part of the recent defence agreement in which the political parties have agreed that the structure and capabilities of the Danish armed forces should be organised in such a way that Denmark will be able to make immediate contributions to European defence initiatives, including combating terrorism, preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and peace support operations with force contributions from both the EU and NATO.

At this point in time, there is no clear indications when the issue will be put to vote, but when it does the EU will assume new importance in Danish military planning.

NATO
From my perspective, NATO is the natural forum for the transatlantic security policy dialogue and it is a prerequisite for combined and joint operations within NATO as well as in other contexts. Our collective defence remains deeply rooted within the NATO framework. This framework guards and strengthens the transatlantic partnership, and thus counters new threats and guarantees European security.

In addition, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation is the framework organisation for the development of common capabilities of the necessary quality for use in future international operations. As a small nation, Denmark can not assume a leading role in research and development related to new capabilities. Our approach to areas like Concept Development & Experimentation will be that of active participation in support of our strategic partners, e.g. in NATO. The purpose of this kind of balanced commitment in developing new capabilities is to maintain freedom of action when investing our scarce resources. The important thing to take away from these remarks is that Denmark actively supports developing and acquiring new capabilities, but at a point in time where the new capabilities have reached a level of maturity that will prevent faulty investments, and at a point in time where they are still a financially affordable upgrade relevant to modern forces used in international contexts.

Thus, I perceive NATO to be pivotal to the transformation of the Danish armed forces and defence structures.

At this point in time, NATO is the only realistic multilateral framework for a military solution if allies other than the USA should suffer an attack of the scale of 11 September 2001. But NATO’s continued role as the major international security organisation is not a given fact.
NATO’s ability to meet the new security challenges depends on continued transformation of the Alliance and the armed forces of its member states.

Denmark is actively contributing to the transformation process in NATO, e.g. by giving high priority to participation in NATO Response Force (NRF) and Prague Capability Commitments (PCC). The transformation and development of Danish armed forces is closely connected to her participation in the NRF. Denmark is using the NRF as a catalyst for change of the national structures as intended when the NRF concept was conceived. We have decided that Danish contributions will vary dependant on options and needs. The NRF is still in the initial phases, having achieved IOC only last autumn, and the Danish commitment reflects this.

Over the past decade, NATO has developed in order to maintain its relevance under changing circumstances. Never the less, two things make NATO less influential on national Danish armed forces planning today than before:

Firstly, the evolutions in the international system since the dissolution of the Soviet Union have led to a continued decrease in the part or share of the Danish armed forces capabilities assigned to the Alliance. In the past, NATO would require or ask for the entire Danish armed forces in the force planning process, since NATO requirements according to the threat based analysis of the Warsaw Pact and the structure of the Danish armed forces were almost identical. Since then, the Alliance has adapted to change based on the strategic concept etc. and according to a capability based approach. Hence, today, NATO asks for a smaller portion of the Danish armed forces, i.e. the portion of the Danish military capabilities that can participate in the full spectrum of missions in principle without geographic limitations.

Secondly, it could be argued that the changing international security environment have given NATO a new implicit task as ”Coalition Enabler” rather than an actor itself. Consequently, the development of national military capabilities should not be limited to the capabilities sought by NATO. Instead, the structuring of the armed forces should be based on an analysis of which military capabilities will best support the execution of Danish foreign and security policy. A national state report on this subject concluded that the development of Danish armed forces can not and should not be made dependant on whether or not successful political co-operation in any given organisation can be achieved. Thus, Danish armed forces need to be more than NATO requirements. In this, the demands the participation in “Coalitions of the Willing and Capable” requires us take upon our selves to contribute with ready, well-equipped and effective forces for international operations as well as strengthened co-ordination between the military and the civilian, humanitarian effort in a specific area of operation.

Primary organisations are still of huge importance
The political debate prior to the Iraq intervention showed the weaknesses of these international organisations, i.e. the UN, NATO and the EU. In the eyes of most people, they and their roles in international security were severely weakened by this conflict. From my perspective, the debate was fruitful in the sense that it was democratic, it has forced us to re-evaluate and renew our willingness to co-operate, and looking at the future, the three organisations will be of vital importance in the evolution of the international co-existence.

The Defence Agreement Process

The Danish model of 4-5 year defence agreements
There is a tradition in Denmark for long-term defence agreements. This means that the tasks and the budget are agreed upon for a period of up to 4-5 years. The defence agreements are normally supported by a broad majority in the Parliament which give the agreements a degree of robustness in case of changing governments.

The newest defence agreement was agreed on 10 June 2004 and covers the years 2005-2009.

The long-term agreements is a guarantee for a stable financial framework within which the armed forces can operate and develop over a period of time in a more flexible way than would be the case if budgets had to be renewed every year. On the other hand, sudden extraordinary expenses, e.g. for international operations, raising oil prices or exchange rates will have to be subsume by the existing budget with only limited possibilities of reimbursement from added state funding.

Since the end of the Cold War, we have had a number of defence agreements - all characterised by reductions in our force structure. However, although they were quite drastic, they basically maintained our Cold War force structure. As we engaged in the defence agreement process leading to the current agreement, we came to realise that we - as a figure of speech - had slice-cut our military capabilities over the years, and that we had reached the end of the “sausage”. Thus, a fundamental new approach was needed.

We chose a so-called ”Capability Based Approach”, fundamentally re-designing Danish armed forces from scratch – analysing the needs and requirements of a modern defence organisation and of relevant Danish armed force structure.

The Defence Agreement Process
In Denmark, the defence agreement process usually has duration of approximately one year and is very much politically led. In the summer of 2003, we, the military, had realised the needs for a fundamentally different approach to restructuring the armed forces and I initiated staff work on the analysis of our future requirements, the so-called capability based approach, as mentioned above, was used and led to internal report on how the future Danish armed forces would be organised seen from a military point of view. This report was named “the Capability Brief” and it was “translated” or re-written and publicly published as the military proposal in the political debate. By this approach, we actually managed to form part of the political debate and focus it on some of the issues deemed important by the Danish armed forces if we were to maintain relevance in the future. By late 2003, the Danish Government launched its ideas and initiatives on defence matters as the official foundation for the coming political debate. And by June 2004, the current defence agreement was signed by a broad majority of parties in the Danish parliament. From this the Defence Command began the analytical and mathematical process of consolidation of the agreement, translating it into tangible and measurable goals for the coming years. The results were approved by Government and by the signing parties behind the agreement, and by January 2005, Danish armed forces could commence the most fundamental transformation of the armed forces since World War II.

One of the things to learn from in this respect is that given the context and the situation, the political debate determining the future developments of the armed forces can by constructively influenced by balanced pro-activity of the military experts. The other important aspect of the new defence agreement is that a broad majority of the parties in the Danish parliament supported and signed the agreement. This gives us an optimal foundation for the future development of the Danish Armed Forces.

The Defence Agreement
One of the major achievements in and greatest benefits from the new agreement is that it fundamentally transforms the Danish armed forces from at state of increasing irrelevance to highly relevant within a five year period.

The former structures were based on army mobilisation defence forces; year-long conscription; the ratio of 40/60 percent between operational and supportive structures; an international capability of 1000 troops funded by the DKK 900 million earmarked for international operations; and eternally inadequate funding of the running costs. The new structures will be standing professional forces; short compulsory service focused on the needs of the Total Defence; the ratio of 60/40 percent between operational and supportive structures; an international capability of 2000 troops funded by the same DKK 900 million earmarked for international operations; and balance between funding and running costs.

In this, the difference between irrelevance and relevance of any modern day military structure lies in the ability to deploy and employ credible military capabilities wherever needed.

Based on the assessment of the international security environment as outlined above, Danish armed forces have been tasked to provide capabilities relevant to the following:

• Internationally deployed military operations within the full spectrum of NATO missions.
• Total Defence, including the ability to counter terrorist acts and their effects.

Terror Makes Total Defence Imperative
The Danish concept of Total Defence stems from the time of the Cold War and is based on the idea that a credible national defence is not an isolated military matter. Total Defence is aimed at co-ordinating employment of all resources of the society in order to prevent war, defend the country and protect the civilian population.

After the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil emergency planning has changed character. The civil emergency planning no longer distinguishes between war and peace but covers all accidents and catastrophes, including acts of war.

The whole concept has therefore changed, and today, Total Defence must ensure that Denmark has sufficient available capabilities to contain threats against the country and to handle large-scale catastrophes. In general, Total Defence encompasses the utilisation of all of the society’s resources, comprising among others the military, the police, the Danish Emergency Management Agency, the Home Guard, the national health service and the national fire fighting capabilities, in order to maintain an organised, functional society and to protect the critical infrastructure, the population and national assets.

The threats to be countered by Total Defence could be either transnational by nature or transcend domestic administrative borders.

As a result, threat containment requires joint solutions and close co-ordination between and participation of the responsible international and national authorities.

Danish Emergency Management
The increased focus on ”Homeland Security” after the attack on the US 11 September 2001 has been mirrored into the analysis of the national defence requirements drawing on two aspects: First, the need for staggered use of deployable military capabilities to enable employment both internationally and in the homeland security if so needed, and second, a redefining of the purpose of conscription identifying a need for conscription of short duration in order to train for the broader homeland security role (First Aid, NBC countering, fire fighting, small arms training and small unit co-operation).

One of the benefits for Danish society derived from conscription training for the mobilisation forces was that a large part of Denmark’s primarily male population was trained as conscripts in several of the disciplines that are now becoming increasingly relevant. As mentioned, this applies to areas such as surveillance, first aid, emergency response and defensive measures to counter atomic, biological and chemical weapons, etc. Other parts of the conventional conscript training for territorial defence have lost much of their relevance. I will return to the redefined Danish conscription later in this article.

As a consequence of the new defence agreement, The Danish Emergency Management Agency and the responsibility of Civil Emergency Planning has thus been transferred from the Minister of the Interior to the Minister of Defence as of 1 February 2004. Total Defence is to be strengthened by integration of the tasks of the national emergency response effort, i.e. the tasks of the Danish Emergency Management Agency and the Total Defence tasks of the Danish armed forces, in a structure that ensures synergy and simplification. Similarly, the Home Guard will be integrated into the operational and support structures of Danish armed forces - without fundamentally changing its voluntary nature or its identity.

In addition, Total Defence is to be strengthened by establishing a Total Defence force comprising some 12,000 soldiers who have completed a relevant 700-hour training programme over a four-month period. Within the first three years following completion of the first joint military training programme, this force will be obligated to make itself available to Danish armed forces for up to three months in connection with performance of Total Defence tasks for the Danish society, provided that the capabilities of the standing forces of Danish armed forces, the national emergency response effort and the Home Guard are insufficient.

The consequences of this for the transformation of the Danish armed forces is that the reorganisation of Danish armed forces has to have sufficient focus directed at the execution of the emergency management tasks, and on maintaining and developing the core competencies that exist in the national emergency management structure. In addition, it has consequences for the way we handle and implement our ability to conduct net based operations nationally. I shall return to this issue later on.

Capabilities for International Missions
Denmark has a long tradition for engaging in international operations from the UN mission in the Middle East in 1948 to the intervention in Iraq in 2003. Danish soldiers are currently employed in missions under the UN, under NATO or in coalitions as depicted beneath.

The international deployable military capabilities needs increased focus when fundamentally transforming a military organisation. Together with our allies, Danish armed forces is able to participate efficiently in high intensity operations under conditions that are both difficult and unstable in order to provide the prerequisites for stabilisation in areas of conflict. We aim at delivering rapidly deployed first-in capabilities in the full spectrum of missions. Danish armed forces will and must have a much greater ability than before to participate in peace-support operations, including conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peacemaking, humanitarian and similar missions.

In the process, we abolished the mobilisation defence in order to strengthen the ability of Danish armed forces to contribute to Total Defence, as mentioned above, including the ability to counter terrorist actions and their impact, and to deploy well-trained, well-equipped units on international missions. The Danish armed forces will be flexible and deployable in order to undertake tasks both at home and abroad. If necessary, the defence of Denmark will obviously be the overriding task undertaken in co-operation with our allies.

Within the current defence agreement covering the years 2005-2009, Denmark is doubling its ambition with regards to the number of Danish troops that can be continuously deployed. The ambition is by 2009 to be able to continuously sustain approximately 2,000 troops internationally deployed or for shorter periods be able to deploy larger force levels. Of the 2,000 troops, 1,500 will be provided by the Army and 500 from the Navy and the Air Force thus making this a joint requirement. If the number, 2,000 troops, is compared to the size of the Danish population (5.3 million), Denmark is among one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to participation in international operations.

An allocation of DKK 900 million p.a. of the defence budget for 2005 is earmarked for the participation of Danish armed forces in international operations. In addition, DKK 50 million is earmarked for international police assignments. A reduced consumption of up to DKK 200 million for the individual fiscal years can be carried forward to the subsequent fiscal years. But if an amount of more than DKK 200 million is not spent in one fiscal year, the excess will revert to the national treasury giving us an extra incentive to actually engage in international missions. In case of a possible excess consumption of funds from this reserve, we have the option to request the Parliament to provide the necessary funding.

The Concerted Planning and Action of Civil and Military Activities (CPA)
The purpose of all aspects of Danish civil or military participation in international missions is to stabilise and normalise the situation for the population in the specific area. Such an end-state in international crisis response operations can not be seen as a solely military task. It requires a high degree of interaction and co-operation between the civil and military efforts in order to achieve this. The coalition’s intervention in Iraq, including the efforts of the Danish military forces, has proven beyond any doubt that achieving such an end-state in Iraq is not about employment of military assets, but is very much about contributing to the re-building of the fundamental structures in the society.

In short, it has become obvious that military effort alone can easily win the war, but not the peace.

Co-ordination of the military and civil efforts is a pre-requisite for successful normalisation and stabilisation of an area of crisis or unrest. Water, electricity, transportation, rule of law, basic administration and a functioning business sector are all basic prerequisites for achieving this desired end-state. To the civilian population in a crisis area, improving their social and economic situation and improving the security situation are directly related. Hence, the military effort must be planned in co-ordination with other national endeavours to obtain maximum synergistic effect of the overall national effort and in order to strengthen Denmark’s ability to assume responsibility for an area of crisis.

The current defence agreement entailed a Government directive to all aspects of the government administration and their institutions: The military effort in any international context must be planned and executed in concert with all other aspects and efforts of the Danish state in the same geographical area in order to achieve maximum effect of the national resources used.

This directive will have huge impact on how we plan and execute our participation in international operations in the future.

As part of the Government’s initiative, a permanent committee of civil servants and government officials has been established for planning and co-ordinating the military and civil humanitarian effort. The members of this officials committee are the Ministry of Defence; the Defence Command; the Defence Intelligence Service; the Emergency Management Agency; and the police. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs chairs the committee and ensures co-ordination with relevant Danish non-governmental relief organisations; Danish industry and private enterprises; and the state funds allocated to develop the specific area of interest.

The idea of this initiative is that all actors in providing an effort in a specific geographical area will bring their core competencies to the overarching solution. The Danish armed forces are bringing its core competencies to this joint planning: 1) the ability to plan and conduct military operations and 2) the military-specific Civil-Military Co-ordination (CIMIC) effort.

Danish armed forces will not transform into armed relief workers. Danish armed forces will undertake the task of creating an appropriate degree of security for civilian institutions and organisations to begin work, and as such undertake peace enforcement and actual war fighting. Only if, e.g. for security reasons, other organisations or institutions will not assume the responsibility for relief work and nation re-building projects, the Danish military troops will do so.

Only by tying the civilian and the military efforts together will it be possible to achieve the synergistic effect that will enable a shortening of both the military and eventually the civilian relief presence in the area, thereby reducing the overall use of resources for the collective Danish effort.

On 20-21 May 2005 Denmark will host a NATO seminar on this issue n order to bring the civil-military co-planning into a NATO context.
The CPA initiative is supported by the Defence Command Crisis Staff situated in the Defence Command. The crisis staff consists of designated personnel called upon during crisis and catastrophes. The staff comprises representatives from all relevant actors of the Danish Total Defence and ad hoc specialists from specific areas (telecommunication etc.) if deemed necessary, thus bringing together the necessary decision makers and experts in order to manage major events within Danish national territory or outside the national borders.

The Financial Situation of the Armed Forces
The financial framework of Danish armed forces is approximately DKK 18 billion of which 900 million are earmarked for international operations. Within this financial budget, Danish armed forces will have to finance all costs associated with defence agreement implementation, e.g. reimbursing personnel when moved; investments in new materiel; and investments in new facilities and buildings. At the same time, we are increasing the overall number of employees by almost 1,000 personnel.

Compared to other nations the defence expenditure per capita in Denmark easily equals what other nations use, and due to the reasons mentioned above we make sure that very DKK input are reflected in the output.

From 40/60 in favour of support to 60/40 in favour of operations
The analysis of our current military capabilities proved to us that the structure and organisation of the armed forces had been skewed as different defence agreements had been implemented. The support structures, the tail, had grown out of proportion and the operational structures, the teeth, had reached a level of close to irrelevance. The re-structuring from scratch entails a change in emphasis in order to bring the priorities from 40% operational capabilities and 60% support structures to 60% operational capabilities and 40% support structure.

Over the next five years, Danish armed forces will be fundamentally transformed through thoroughly streamlining and trimming the staff and support structure for the benefit of the operational capacities. One example of what we have deemed necessary is the centralisation of the administration of personnel, equipment and infrastructure establishments. That will reduce the current administrative tasks for the Defence Staff, the Royal Administration of Navigation and Hydrography, the Home Guard Command, the Defence Construction Service, the operational commands and subordinate authorities, including regiments, air bases, naval bases, schools, etc. and will allow them to focus on delivering the desired output, forces for international operations and forces for Total Defence. The remaining staff and support structures will be streamlined and trimmed to meet the exact needs of the operational units, the Total Defence and other relevant domestic tasks.

Consequently, in the process, several military barracks and establishments are to be closed or merged bringing about an entirely new and more lean organisation more supportive of our expeditionary warfare capabilities.

The overall structure of the armed forces
As mentioned, an important step in this process is to streamline of our staff and support structures.

The overall management in the Danish armed forces will still consist of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Defence Command Denmark (DCDA) as two separate entities. The responsibilities and division of tasks between the MoD and the DCDA is currently under scrutiny and will be analysed and re-organised to minimise future overlaps in the administration of the armed forces.

The military organisation will consist of three operational commands, a number of functional services and military schools as depicted below.

In detail the consequences of the defence agreement are as follows:

The three current Materiel Commands will be integrated into one Defence Materiel Service undertaking tasks of procurement and acquisition, upgrading materiel, management of depots and general maintenance.

All personnel administrative tasks currently divided amongst all branches of the armed forces will be centralised in one entity, the new Defence Personnel Service.

In the same way, all tasks concerning the defence infrastructure; facilities and establishments will be centralised into one entity, the Defence Facilities Service.

All in all, it will bring us a more streamlined organisation which will allow us to reduce the Peacetime Establishment (PE) structure with at least 20%.

The primary outcome of this reorganisation is of course cost savings, but equally important the reduction of administrative functions in the operational commands will allow them to focus on the main task, international operations.

From 1,000 to 2,000 at the same costs
The focus on delivering a substantially increased international capability made us analyse what changes would be necessary to get more ”output” from the same ”input”. In other words, how could we change the ability to deploy 1,000 troops within the funding restraints of DKK 900 million earmarked for international operations to 2,000 troops within the same budget?

We found that if we concentrated our international engagement on using standing forces funding would benefit. Standing forces’ salary is paid from our main defence budget outside the earmarked DKK 900 million, while reserve forces on stand-by contracts would have their salary paid by the DKK 900 million budget.

That means, by a mix of forces primarily using standing forces we would be able to deploy more soldiers for the same amount of money.

In addition, using a larger extent of standing professional forces costs for mission specific training would decrease, since most soldiers would have a higher level of training in general. And the running costs would drop as a result of the fact that we would focus on buying the materiel needed for our core task, i.e. international operations, thus not having to invest in materiel not relevant to this task.

The graphics underneath depict this situation.

Deployability, Sustainability and Usability
During our analysis of the needed transformation, we have leaned on the NATO MC 317/1 document in which the demands and requirements of future NATO forces are described.

These demands of modern and relevant forces are different from those we lived up to during the Cold War era. But even though the number of forces required has lessened over the years, the demands facing today’s forces in order to align them to future challenges remain high. International operations of the future will, perhaps obviously, take place on the borders of or outside a new enlarged Alliance. This poses special demands on force mobility/flexibility, availability, logistic endurance/survivability and co-operation across national contingents.

The work on improving the availability of the forces of the Alliance and Denmark is naturally supporting this wholeheartedly. Modern forces must be available for the full spectrum of Alliance missions. The availability criteria on readiness divided into High Readiness (0-90 days), Lower Readiness (90-180 days) and Long Term Build-up Capability (mere end 360 days) includes deployability and mobility. In addition, the requirements of the NRF are high readiness states of between 5 and 30 days.

NATO must be able to meet the criteria of sustainability of forces in operations for longer periods of time. The NATO force structure must allow the execution of operations through rotation of both forces and Head Quarters. And national force structures need to support this. 
Multinationality is a growing requirement for our forces.

The multinational context entails the composition of both forces and HQs, since all member nations have a right to contribute to operations and since the Alliance needs to demonstrate that operations are not single nation endeavours. Multinationality poses huge demands on Denmark as well as on the other individual member nations regarding language training, implementation and updates of common tactics, techniques and procedures and regarding exercise participation.

The requirement of the new force structure for increased deployability is very much a demand Danish armed forces will have to work with.

More Investments in Materiel
The new defence agreement also aims at increasing investment in relevant equipment targeted on future operational capabilities to an extent that diminishes the “technology gap” between Denmark and certain other allies. It will entail that Denmark lives up to the commitment to participate in NATO’s capability initiatives, including strategic sea and air transport, air fuelling, etc., as stated by the Danish Government during the NATO Summit in the autumn 2002. The investments for the current defence agreement are shown in the figure below.

Personnel Composition Changes
The transformation of the Danish Armed Forces from a traditional defence based largely on mobilisation supplemented with professionally manned units for international operations to a Danish Expeditionary Armed Force focused on the capability to global employment and insertion of deployable forces for the full range of Alliance missions necessitates a need for adjustment of the present personnel structure.

As you may already know, the Danish personnel structure is quite different compared to US or UK force structures as all officers and a large part of the NCOs serve until they are 60 years of age. The future in general will require a younger and more flexible personnel force.

This is determined by the fact that the service pattern has changed in geography from primarily being within Danish territory, sometimes temporarily interrupted by periods abroad during international operations, to more frequent and longer lasting duties abroad temporarily interrupted by training and off-duty periods in Denmark. At the same time, the physical military requirements have increased as a consequence of focus on high readiness forces for the full range of Alliance missions beyond NATO territory.

It is estimated that the personnel adjustments cannot be carried out solely by natural retirements and voluntary job changes. Therefore, we have maintained a job and training consultant scheme implemented during the previous defence agreement in order to support re-employment and re-training of discharged or dismissed personnel. This said, the affected personnel will off course be offered other employment within Danish armed forces wherever possible.
The overall transformation of the personnel structures will be to leave the armed force with more military personnel and less civilian employees, thereby supporting the focus on capabilities for international operations.

The Re-defined Conscription
The present compulsory military service scheme, i.e. conscription, has been reorganised re-directed at purposes and needs of the Total Defence instead of the needs of the old mobilization force structure. At the same time, the compulsory military service scheme will form the basis for recruitment for either pro-longed military service contracts or a full career in the ranks. And like our previous conscription system it will be part of maintaining the strong links between the services and the society and contribute to the foundation of the Danish population’s strong support for the armed forces.

The requirements of Danish armed forces determine the number of young people enrolled in military service. All young men are required to enlist and all young women are invited to attend “The Day of the Danish armed forces”. On this day, we introduce our-selves and the services present employment and career opportunities and distribute information material. Based on their participation in this presentation of Danish armed forces, the participants then inform Danish armed forces whether they would like to do voluntary military service or whether they are interested in another form of employment with Danish armed forces. To make the voluntary military service more desirable remuneration as well as other benefits for conscripts have been improved from previous levels.

We draw up contracts for voluntary military service with those interested and determine the shortfall between these and the number of conscripts needed. The remainder will be drafted as conscripts. Before entering service, both volunteers and conscripts will be examined by an independent doctor in order to determine the individual’s suitability for military service.

The conscripts will receive at four month training focusing on the tasks related to the Total Defence. As mentioned earlier, this means training in first aid; countering Nuclear Biological and Chemical catastrophes; fire fighting; small arms training; and small unit co-operation in order to give them the necessary qualifications to assist in these contexts. After the four months of training the conscripts will transferred to a pool under an alert status. This means that they might be called in for additional service in a certain number of months. The conscripts may volunteer for 8 months additional training to be a part of the Danish armed forces’ deployable forces. When training for the deployable forces has been successfully completed, the recruited soldiers can choose between becoming a professional soldier or transfer to a reserve pool of contract volunteers on a special readiness/stand-by contract.

Once professional soldiers and contract volunteers are dismissed from service they are automatically registered as trained personnel in a database used by the Total Defence in case of grave national crisis.
The re-defined compulsory military service, including issues regarding the number of conscripts and duration and contents of the military service, will be re-evaluated by the end of 2006 in order to optimise the system or cancel it all together.

 
The Royal Danish Army
The Army’s capability for rapid deployment of forces to prevent crises from developing or escalating further will be strengthened. At the same time, as I mentioned above, it will be possible to sustain deployed forces for a longer period of time and to a greater extent than before.

The transformation of the Army will lead to the formation of two brigades within the framework of the Danish Division. The Danish Division staff and divisional troops, as well as one of the brigades, will primarily consist of professional soldiers, while the other brigade will primarily comprise soldiers on a response-force contract. The brigades will be organised to enable the flexible deployment of a relevant military contingent depending on the tasks and terms of the actual operations. The deployment and logistics will be planned and continuously tested in connection with exercises, participation in NRF etc. The Navy and Air Force will be integrated in this process as sea and air transport respectively, allowing military forces to be deployed at short notice.

The Danish Division; the brigade and the divisional troops will be affiliated with the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). In addition, these force structures will continue to be part of the Multinational Corps North East (MNC NE). Furthermore, Denmark will continue to participate in the Multinational Standby Forces High Readiness Brigade for UN operations (SHIRBRIG) with a headquarters company, a reconnaissance unit, a military police unit and staff personnel. The forces assigned to SHIRBRIG will be recruited from the Army’s two brigades. It is the intention to develop the SHIRBRIG concept in order to enable it to be deployed with more robust units in peace enforcing operations on the basis of chapter VII of the UN Charter.

The compulsory military service training programme is primarily aimed at a total defence effort in Denmark whereas the training of soldiers for actual combat units requires a considerably longer training programme in the form of a reaction force training programme of a duration of nine months, as described above.

The Royal Danish Navy
The specialised capabilities of the Navy in conducting littoral operations have been maintained. Two new Flexible Support vessels have been built. The ability to participate in NATO’s Standing Naval Forces, including participation in the NATO Response Force, will be prioritised, thus creating a possibility for contributing relevant units and task group staff as well as the necessary command platform. Three patrol vessels (frigates) capable of all naval warfares are to be procured within the defence agreement period while four Standard Flex 300 vessels and the submarine service are to be decommissioned.
Moreover, the Danish Navy’s capability to perform domestic tasks, including tasks in the North Atlantic region, has been maintained.

Several national and international initiatives regarding the government’s responsibility for providing maritime security, for implementing measures to combat the pollution of marine environments and for safeguarding the shipping trade against terrorism, involve increased inspection and monitoring of civilian shipping in Danish waters, which in turn increases the consumption of resources. To strengthen the operational performance of emergency responses, the Rescue Co-ordination Centres of the Air Force and the Navy are to be merged under Admiral Danish Fleet.

The Navy’s part of the compulsory military service is to be reorganised so that naval conscripts in principle undergo the same training programme as Army conscripts. However, the Navy’s training programme will also include a number of days at sea for the purpose of recruiting the Navy’s permanent personnel.

The new Flexible Support ships are designed and built in close co-operation between the Danish Navy and the Danish shipbuilding industry. These vessels can be configured for a number of different support roles. The ships will be equipped to operate anywhere in the world and will be able to solve a number of different joint tasks such as:

• Command Platform
• Transportation of Army units
• Logistic Support to Army and Air force operations
• Platform for launching counter terrorist operations

In addition, the Flexible Support vessels are fitted to project firepower in support of land operations as well as participating in all naval warfares.

Strengthening the Navy’s Danish Task Group will allow optimum use of the Flexible Support C2 capabilities and the Patrol vessels.
Centred on the deployability delivered by the ARK project, i.e. the long-term lease of two RO-RO vessels for the benefit of NATO or individual nations, the Navy will be a valuable contribution to any international operation in the future.

 
Finally, the number of Special Forces in the Navy will be increased, thus contributing to a more robust Danish capability in this area. The Flexible Support ships and their transport helicopter facilities will be able support future SOF contributions to international operations.

The Royal Danish Air Force
The Air Force organisation will transform into a wing structure of three Wings supporting fighter aircraft, transport aircraft and helicopters respectively. In addition, the supportive Control and Reporting Wing will be joined by a new wing construction, the Expeditionary Combat Support Wing responsible for providing the air force’s deployable combat support and combat service support capabilities, where as the Danish Ground Based Air Defence will be decommissioned.
The command organisation of the Air Force will undergo changes as it is transformed and adapted to NATO requirements and the ACCS structures. As with other parts of the Danish armed forces the focus will be on establishing a truly expeditionary air force contribution to international operations.

The influx of new transport aircraft (Hercules C130 J) and new helicopters (EH 101) increases the ability of the Air Force to support land-based military operations and humanitarian efforts. The current inspection aircraft (Challenger) give the Air Force sufficient capability for environmental surveillance and for carrying out other domestic tasks, including tasks in the North Atlantic region.

In addition, upgraded F-16 MLU aircraft continue to constitute a significant capability for utilisation in maintaining national sovereignty and contributing to relevant participation in international operations, hereunder participation in the NRF. The overall fighter aircraft structure, including the number of operational F-16 aircraft, has been adapted to tasks; the aircraft’s total lifetime expectancy and the possibilities of introducing a new fighter aircraft in the long term.

The Air Force’s compulsory military service is to be reorganised so that Air Force conscripts in principle will undergo the same training programme as Army and Navy conscripts.

Finally, I find it worth mentioning that Denmark has been one of the driving forces in the lease solution to NATO Prague Capabilities Commitment on strategic air transport for the Alliance.

The Home Guard
The Danish Home Guard is an organisation for people, who – on a voluntary basis – want to take part in the defence of the country. They train in performing military tasks in support of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.

The transformation of the Danish armed forces allows the Home Guard to target its efforts on Total Defence activities. The peacetime activities are mainly to provide assistance in case of national natural disasters, search-and-rescue operations, and assistance to the police. When employed, the Naval Home Guard will continue to be part of the navy operational structure, taking part in the national maritime tasks, including general maritime surveillance, assistance to, for example, the Customs Service and the police. The Naval Home Guard will also take part in the maritime environmental efforts and search and rescue efforts.

The general structure of the Home Guard will be divided into an active and a passive structure.

Members of the active structure of the Home Guard have to undergo the mandatory training of 250-300 hours within the first three years of service, including a 100-hour basic training programme, in order to be issued weapons. In order to remain part of the active structure a member has to carry out a minimum of 24 hours of operationally relevant service each year. An additional requirement for annual shooting practice and training is laid down for personnel who have received a weapon. The active structure is made up of personnel with an adequate training level, which will be evaluated annually.
The active members are, depending on their level of activity in the Home Guard, part of the Home Guard’s reaction force, the Naval Home Guard’s sea borne units or other units within the Home Guard.

The Home Guard will provide a 3,000 man strong force, which will be trained equivalently to the Total Defence training given to conscripts in the Armed Forces. The Home Guard will be aimed at Total Defence tasks and joint contributions in conjunction with the Danish Emergency Management Agency’s personnel and the Total Defence force. The Home Guard will provide a command structure within the new Total Defence regions, to which the other parts of the Armed Forces contribute 800-1,200 reserve officers and NCOs able to command personnel and formations from the Home Guard and the Total Defence force.

The passive structure of the Home Guard consists of the remaining members of the Home Guard, who will not be issued equipment and weapons.

The Defence Agreement Review Clause
Even though the Defence Agreement has been signed and the implementation initiated, the Danish armed forces will continue to explore new opportunities and adapt to new challenges. The end-state in five years time will be very different from what we envisage today.

The implementation and the development processes in the armed forces are much more dynamic and changeable than we have seen before. This is clearly underlined by the long line of issues to be revised through a new defence agreement ”review clause” during the defence agreement period, e.g. the new conscription scheme; the integration of the Home Guard further into the defence structures etc.

In addition the revision will entail an annual review of the implementation rate and success, in order to ensure that the assumptions and analytical pre-requisites for the armed forces tasks and the defence agreement intentions are still valid, thus ensuring that the Danish armed forces is continuously optimised and relevant.
The factors taken into account during these reviews will be external trends in the security environment as I have described them above, or they may be issues of in-expedience following the implementation, e.g. timings; resources; or organisational changes.

The most important thing is that an annual up-date/review (the blue line) gives us the opportunity to adjust the speed and direction of the implementation smoothly, thereby safeguarding ourselves against drastic changes later on in the implementation (the black line). The yellow areas in the figure are actually the level of irrelevance that we are now able to avoid.

Conclusion
Transformation is difficult but necessary if the armed forces of our nations or our Alliances are to undertake the tasks of the future as modern and relevant military tools. The new Danish armed forces agreement and the transformation of the armed forces entailed in this will prove to be a daunting task, but a task we are willing to undertake in order to maintain relevance.

Transformation is not a single condition to be achieved, nor is it comparable to normal evolution. Transformation is an iterative process of a continued series of fundamental changes each leading to a new state of affairs.

Transformation is a process demanding the very best from the Defence management in order to create the right attitude and the right perception with those involved – not only the personnel but also with the politicians and the Danish public.

We will see changes as a result of both the annual reviews and of coming defence agreements. This is not a threat but an acknowledgement of the fact that the world around us continues to change and so will what is required of us – as individuals; as soldiers; as national militaries; and as coalitions.

Mao Tse Tung once said that when the winds of change are blowing some are inclined to build shelters, while others build windmills. I am proud to state that Denmark is a nation with numerous windmills.