Denmark orders new radars to bolster air surveillance

Denmark is now the third country in Europe after Norway and the Netherlands to acquire the Thales Ground Master 200 Multi Mission Compact radar. (Thales)

Denmark will acquire five new Thales Ground Master 200 Multi Mission Compact (GM200 MM/C) radars under a government-to-government deal with the Netherlands.

According to the Danish Ministry of Defence's Materiel and Procurement Agency (FMI) on 31 October, the new mobile radars are for the Royal Danish Air Force and will bolster the country's air-surveillance capabilities especially when detecting low-flying aircraft, helicopters, drones, and missiles.

The radars are urgently required and are intended to replace the air force's mobile RAC-3D radars as well as the “air warning element of the Scanter 4000 radars”, the announcement said.

Scanter 4000s are naval air and surface surveillance radars, typically installed on ships. When asked about the partial replacement, an FMI spokesperson told Janes that the military's Scanter 4000 radars used in “dual mode for low-level air surveillance and naval surveillance” would be replaced with the new GM200 MM/C systems.

Acquiring the radars through an agreement with the Dutch Command Materiel and IT (COMMIT) agency is intended to expedite the delivery process and support future updates as both countries will operate the same configuration, the announcement said. In February 2019 the Netherlands Ministry of Defence acquired nine GM200 MM/C radars for the Royal Netherlands Army to support artillery and air-defence missions.

Deliveries of the five radars to Denmark are expected to begin in 2026 and the contract is valued up to DKK540 million (USD76.3 million), the spokesperson said.