PARIS — Denmark repatriated three more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters it had been using for pilot training in the U.S., finalizing a workaround to delivery delays by Lockheed Martin, after the Nordic country already flew home four aircraft in an older configuration in December.
The jets landed at Denmark’s Skrydstrup Air Base on Sunday after a trans-Atlantic flight from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, with a stopover in the Azores, the Defence Ministry said in a statement Monday. That brings the local F-35 fleet to 11 aircraft, and a major step this year will be for the stealth fighters to partially take over air-policing duties from the country’s aging F-16 jets.
Lockheed Martin deliveries of F-35 jets were delayed last year due to issues with the so-called Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, upgrade. That left Denmark scrambling for options to meet F-35 rollout milestones and expand its locally based fleet beyond four aircraft, eventually prompting a decision in June to fly the country’s training aircraft home.
“The major milestone for the Air Force in 2025 is that the F-35 will occasionally be able to replace the F-16s in the task of maintaining denial readiness,” the ministry said. “The F-35 will thus be able to handle the task of having two aircraft ready to take off in minutes and repel foreign aircraft approaching Danish airspace.”
A total of 17 fighters have now been delivered to Denmark as scheduled, according to the ministry, including six F-35s from the production line in Fort Worth, Texas, to replace the training aircraft at Luke Air Force Base. While Lockheed Martin resumed delivery of F-35s in the TR-3 configuration last year, the new jets remain limited to training duties for now.
Denmark has a total 27 aircraft on order, and the plan is for the F-35 to gradually take over all the tasks from the F-16s in coming years. The government has said the remaining aircraft will be delivered in the TR-3 configuration towards 2027.
Lockheed Martin’s TR-3 upgrade of the F-35, originally planned for summer 2023, includes improved cockpit displays and more on-board computing power, and is supposed to serve as the basis for a further upgrade known as Block 4 that adds weapon and electronic-warfare capabilities.
The Defence Ministry said in June the F-35 situation wasn’t expected to affect the donation of F-16s to Ukraine.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
