Page 37 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

An alternative view to that of the Admiral was provided by a German naval officer who argued both that
submarines were crucial for the operations he envisaged in the area as well as crucial to have a European
autonomy in dealing with the Russians.

But without an F-35 force or without an ally with a flexible and significant nuclear force, it is difficult to see
how the German naval officer’s view would square with dealing with the threat as described accurately, I
would add, by Rear Admiral Wang.

Whereas the German officer was clearly focused on the Cold War threat, where certainly aircraft working
with submarines were key elements in deterring an amphibious strike force, what Wang focuses on is an
ability to go after mobile missiles in the area of interest supporting Russian occupation of the Baltics and
operating via its offensive and defensive missiles at area denial of the Western forces.

Commodore Ulrich Reineke of the German Navy begged to disagree with his Danish colleague, saying
that Germany finds submarines crucial for ASW and has good experiences with coordinated use of
aircraft, surface units, and submarines for ASW in the Baltic.

Reineke also stressed the important role for submarines in intelligence collection and operations with
special forces.

The disagreement also seemed to cover basic assumptions about the nature of the operations as the
German point of view was that the regional powers must be prepared to manage a conflict in the
Baltic Sea without external support from allies.

https://romeosquared.eu/2017/09/21/danish-admiral-says-submarines-are-flagrant-waste-of-money/

The Russians, the Arctic and the Baltics: Activism in Support of Strategic
Re-Positioning
2015-04-23 By Robbin Laird

Copenhagen is a lovely city.

The Danes are hearty and friendly folks.

They just don’t seem the kind of folks who need to open their mail and a get a greeting from the Russian
Ambassador, who after all is a guest in their country, that reads something like this:
I do not think that the Danes fully understand the consequences of what happens if Denmark joins the US-led
missile defense.

If this happens, Danish warships become targets for Russian nuclear missiles.

http://www.dw.com/en/denmark-could-become-target-of-russian-nuclear-weapons-ambassador-warns/a-
18332777
So let us reverse the logic – the Danes tell the Russians that they are imperialists who are interfering in
European affairs and seizing the territory of free states, reach agreements with states like China to operate
on that territory, or that they should act like a civilized state.

Not likely to happen in a small country of a group of islands against a giant land mass with multiple time
zones and led by Putin the Great.

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