Denmark eyes Boeing P-8 aircraft for Arctic surveillance

MILAN — Denmark is exploring the possibility of buying the U.S.-made Poseidon-8 maritime patrol aircraft to bolster its surveillance over the Arctic region, the Danish defense minister has said.

In an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, Troels Lund Poulsen stated that the country could buy “a fleet” of Boeing planes, an acquisition estimated to be worth billions of dollars.

“I would prefer that we collaborate with other NATO countries to get the most value for our money and to have a greater degree of flexibility – but if that proves impossible, I am also willing to accept that we will have to acquire this P-8 aircraft capacity ourselves,” Poulsen told Reuters in a statement.

Of specific interest is to increase threat awareness surrounding Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are semi-autonomous Danish territories.

Initially designed as a maritime-patrol aircraft, the P-8 has also been used by several countries in an anti-submarine role to monitor Russian underwater activities. User nations include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and fellow Nordic country Norway.

Some Danish experts say that opting for the Boeing aircraft would be logical from the perspective of building stronger ties with its current users and to help standardize platforms.

“The selection makes sense from a close cooperation standpoint with the U.K., Germany, and Norway with one common type of maritime patrol aircraft,” Hans Tino Hansen, chief executive officer of the Denmark-based security company Risk Intelligence, said.

“Denmark and Norway also already cooperate closely with Danish assistance to Oslo, preparing for the MH-60 Seahawk with training of flight and ground crews,” he added.

The P-8 can be equipped with a list of sensors and weapons to detect, classify and neutralize hostile submarines, according to the manufacturer’s website.

It can also drop sonobuoys, which, once they hit the water, provide a radio transmitter above the surface and hydrophone sensors, similar to underwater microphones.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——丹麦国防部长表示，丹麦正在考虑购买美国制造的“海神-8”海上巡逻机，以加强其对北极地区的监视。

特罗尔斯·伦德·波尔森在接受丹麦广播公司 TV2 采访时表示，丹麦可能会购买“一支”波音飞机队，据估计，这笔交易价值数十亿美元。

波尔森在一份声明中告诉路透社：“我更希望我们与其他北约国家合作，以最大限度地利用资金，并拥有更大的灵活性——但如果这被证明是不可能的，我也愿意接受我们必须自己获取P-8飞机能力。”

尤其值得关注的是提高人们对格陵兰岛和法罗群岛（丹麦的半自治领土）周边威胁的认识。

P-8最初设计为海上巡逻机，也被多个国家用于反潜作战，以监视俄罗斯的水下活动。用户国包括美国、英国、德国以及北欧国家挪威。

一些丹麦专家表示，从与现有用户建立更紧密联系以及帮助平台标准化的角度来看，选择波音飞机是合乎逻辑的。

“从与英国、德国和挪威密切合作的角度来看，选择这种机型是有意义的，因为它们使用同一种类型的海上巡逻机，”总部位于丹麦的安全公司 Risk Intelligence 的首席执行官汉斯·蒂诺·汉森 (Hans Tino Hansen) 表示。

他还补充说：“丹麦和挪威也已经密切合作，丹麦向奥斯陆提供援助，为MH-60海鹰直升机的到来做准备，包括对飞行和地勤人员进行培训。”

据制造商网站介绍，P-8 可以配备一系列传感器和武器，用于探测、识别和摧毁敌方潜艇。

它还可以投放声呐浮标，这些浮标一旦落入水中，就会在水面上提供无线电发射器和水听器传感器，类似于水下麦克风。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。