Frederikshavn to assemble new military ships

The parties behind the defense agreement have agreed on a political agreement on military ships on Friday evening.

Frederikshavn has been selected to assemble new larger military ships.

The parties behind the defense agreement agreed on this on Friday evening, the Ministry of Defense writes in a press release.

“Although Denmark is a major maritime nation with proud traditions in shipping and shipbuilding, we do not currently have shipyards that can be used to build or assemble major maritime capabilities,” says Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen (V).

“Therefore, the parties behind the defense agreement have agreed to establish such a framework for the construction of larger military ships in Frederikshavn.”

Frederikshavn already houses one of the Danish Armed Forces’ two naval stations with 1,300 employees. At the same time, there are several maritime education institutions in North Jutland.

At a press conference at the Ministry of Defense, Troels Lund Poulsen says that Frederikshavn has been chosen based on a military and material expertise.

The political agreement means that a state-owned assembly plant for military ships will be built in Frederikshavn. The agreement could create several hundred new jobs.

“I have no doubt for a second that this decision will have a great impact on Danish society. The fact that we have now agreed to build our own military ships will resonate,” says the Minister of Defense at the press conference on Friday evening.

The new agreement on the production of military ships is part of the naval plan agreed in April.

According to the fleet plan, 26 new ships are to be acquired to strengthen the Danish fleet. The ambition is that a large part of the production will take place in Denmark.

In addition to Frederikshavn, ports in Skagen, Esbjerg and Odense had also bid for the task.

The topic has been high on the political agenda because the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Søren Gade, is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port of Esbjerg, which has also bid for the task.

This has given rise to accusations of a possible dual role.

The compromise parties also agreed on Friday that 3.4 billion kroner will be allocated to a fund to strengthen surveillance and satellite capacity.

According to Troels Lund Poulsen, surveillance and satellite capacity plays a central role when it comes to detecting and responding to threats and incidents.

ritzau