Awarded in 2023 to Danske Patruljeskibe K/S – a consortium founded by Terma, Odense Maritime Technology and PensionDanmark –, the patrol vessels will be adapted to the Danish Defense’s increasing needs for Arctic ships. The conciliation group behind the defense agreement has decided this in connection with the first partial agreement for the Arctic and North Atlantic.
“The situation has changed in several areas since the decision to design new patrol ships was made in 2021. We are in a significantly changed security policy situation, and the Defense is demanding a replacement for the aging Thetis class. The parties to the agreement have therefore agreed to reorient the existing patrol ship project to focus on Arctic ships,”
– Danish Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen says.
The Danish Defence Command has expressed a desire for an early replacement of the current Tethis-class ships, and the new Arctic ships will not have the same need for maintenance as these aging ships. The new Arctic ships will therefore be able to solve tasks more efficiently and flexibly than the current ships, especially in Greenland. The replacement will be carried out in such a way that the operational capacity is strengthened in the Arctic and the North Atlantic.
As previously reported by Naval News, OSK Design was proposing an Arctic Frigate design for the Tethis-class replacement. Speaking to Naval News, a high-level official from OSK stated that the Royal Danish Navy will still need Arctic Frigates to conduct ASW (Anti-submarine Warfare) operations in the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom) gap, and the Arctic part of the North Atlantic Ocean. “It might be with our requirements, but we believe that we can implement it in our design.” the official said.
An evolution of OMT’s MPV-80, the Danish patrol ships were originally designed to be able to operate in the Baltic Sea and Danish waters. With Swedish and Finnish NATO membership, there are now more people willing to take on the large and important security policy task in the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea region remains a Danish focus area, but the development of Danish capabilities in the Baltic Sea must be seen in connection with, among other things, the capabilities of our neighboring countries.
Denmark therefore has a greater need to be able to be present in the Baltic Sea with capabilities other than patrol ships, e.g. with frigates and aircraft.
“The work so far has by no means been wasted. A reorientation makes it possible to get started more quickly with the design work on the Arctic ships, for example, when a new time-consuming process does not have to be carried out. In addition, it is expected that sub-elements from the design work of the patrol ships and experiences from the work with a Danish construction strategy can be reused,” says Troels Lund Poulsen.
The marine environment task was also part of the design of the patrol ships. It was agreed that the acquisition of new marine environment vessels will be done in cooperation with the Danish Ministry of Civil Security and Emergency Preparedness, which has taken over responsibility for marine environmental preparedness.
