Page 10 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

And we will conclude by focusing on how does Denmark adapt itself, going forward, to this new landscape,
notably with regards to crisis management and defense planning.

Robbin Laird: We want to have tool sets available that allow our leaders to respond effectively, but without
having to do full mobilization.

In other words, we don’t want to end up like World War I and we don’t want to end up like World War II.

And so that means we’re in this situation where we really do need military tools to go along with diplomatic
approaches for crisis management.

And to be blunt, we lag significantly on the diplomatic and strategic thinking side of the equation.

One key path of change is better integration of offensive with defensive capabilities to forge more effective
deterrence.

How might Denmark look at this dynamic?

Hans Tino Hansen: We need to start with the key challenge of air defence which is currently covered by our F-
16s, and anti-missile defense.

With F-35 we will have significantly different capabilities which can provide for the possibility of integrating
with ground or sea based missile defense forces as well.

This is something which needs to be addressed in the US-Danish defense agreement as well.

But the strategic shift would be actually to connect the air defense capability with the naval and air strike
capability, together with the control and command capability along with the intelligence resources.

Defensive capabilities are not sufficient to deter, but has to be developed in parallel with strike capabilities.

In addition, Denmark’s participation in Ballistic Missile Defence will connect the operational level to the
strategic level.

This might be a way to enhance our ability to deal with defense of the Northern European security complex.
And we certainly need credible deterrence against anyone deploying long range missiles, for instance the
Russians in Kaliningrad or others around the world.

And we need such deterrent capability in support of naval operations in the Baltic or in protecting our supply
lines.

We would look to the F-35 as being a force multiplier for the whole of our defense effort, as a trigger for
greater integration and effectiveness in the Northern European security complex.

Question: Clearly, Sweden and Finland are looking at the situation differently and are enhancing their
working approaches towards collaboration in the region and beyond.

How do you see their evolution?

Hans Tino Hansen: It is quite interesting to see how Sweden has moved from the 1980s where you couldn’t
say “NATO” at all in Swedish security and defense circles.

Then in the ’90s, it became possible to say “NATO,” but you were not allowed to smile.
Second Line of Defense

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