Denmark has joined the growing list of European nations expected to increase their defense spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Copenhagen is proposing defense investment worth a total of 143 billion krone ($20 billion) over the next 10 years with the aim of meeting NATO’s target for each member country of spending 2% of GDP each year on defense by 2030. However the increases will require approval by the country’s Parliament. 

Danish defense spending has hovered around 1.3% of GDP but has increased steadily since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. 

Ministers have not outlined how the money will be spent, but state there will be increased focus on the protection of Danish airspace as well as critical underwater infrastructure and vital sea routes, particularly into the Baltic Sea. 

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally changed the threat picture we are facing. There is war in Europe, and peace and freedom can no longer be taken for granted,” says Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s acting minister for defense. 

He says implementation of the plan would “significantly strengthen Danish defense and security,” with a “steadily increasing framework for new initiatives from 2024.” 

Military spending growth over 10 years will give the government and Defense Ministry a long-term planning horizon “with a strategic and financial framework,” Poulsen says. 

Decisions on how the money will be spent are scheduled to begin this fall, although some of the money has been designated to fund support for Ukraine. 

Denmark is in the midst of a fleet transition with the introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which eventually will replace the country’s Lockheed F-16s. 

The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) has taken delivery of seven of its planned 27 F-35s, according to Aviation Week’s Fleet Discovery database, although none are in Denmark. They are supporting flight training in the U.S.  

Last year, regional tensions prompted the service to rethink the F-16-t0-F-35 transition, and the air arm now plans to keep its F-16s in service until 2027, flying two combat aircraft types together for the first time since the early 1980s. 

The decision to retain the F-16s longer will allow the Air Force to continue participating in NATO operations, including air policing in the Baltic.  

Under the original transition plan to the F-35, the RDAF would have been unable to support international missions in 2022-24 until more F-35s were introduced.