On Friday the 11th of December 2015 ADBC hosted a roundtable at the Danish Embassy in Washington D.C. with Danish Rear Admiral Finn Hansen. Rear Admiral Hansen is head of the Development and Coordination Staff at Defense Command Denmark. He provided interesting insights in to the recent reorganization of the Defense Command and implementation of the 2013-2017 defense agreement, as well as a valuable update on current programs for equipment procurement and modernization.
ADBC members from the defense field took part in the discussion and paid close attention as the Rear Admiral shared his insights. He described the strong Danish presence in NATO-, UN- and coalition of the willing-operations around the world, where Denmark is well known for punching above her weight. To ensure the ability to take part in these operations, Hansen underlined, it is crucial that a large portion of Danish military inventory is NATO-deployable.
In the following QA-session the participants were able to ask questions and many were naturally interested in future Danish procurements. Rear Admiral Hansen talked about the many factors that form such decisions, for instance pointing to the wish to buy equipment in use by our allies. Thus, from a military standpoint programs such as foreign military sales are very valuable. However, as the Rear Admiral pointed out, it is also important for the Danish politicians to ensure valuable industry opportunities for Danish companies.