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Denmark’s record-setting arms purchase raises eyebrows and anxiety
By eschewing American-made munitions for their European counterparts, the Danish government is bracing for Russian antagonism and sending a message to the West
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Is Denmark’s limiting a recent arms purchase to European retailers broadcasting a story to Russia, Washington or both?
(Image credit: Bertrand Guay / AFP / Getty Images)
Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
17 September 2025
The world of international arms deals received a jolt on Wednesday, as Denmark announced it would purchase an estimated $9 billion in cutting-edge military systems, marking the largest weapons purchase ever for the Scandinavian nation. More surprising than the massive buy, however, was who Denmark had chosen to supply the influx of arms: fellow European nations, and conspicuously not the United States.
A ‘threat to Europe and Denmark for years to come’
There has been a “need for big and bold decisions” when it comes to Denmark’s “combat power” and ability to secure the country’s citizens, said Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen on X last week, previewing this week’s purchase announcement. There is “no doubt” that Russia — currently in year three of its attempted full-scale invasion of Ukraine — will be a “threat to Europe and Denmark for years to come,” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to the press on Wednesday. Denmark this past year boosted its military budget to “address acute shortcomings” following Russia’s Ukraine assault, Reuters said.
Danish officials have “publicly” joined the “longstanding concerns of their NATO allies” over Russian aggression in the icy waters to the country’s north, said CNN. Many officials also expect that, if and when the Ukraine conflict ends, Russia will next “divert resources” and use its “warfighting experience to pose a much greater threat in the Arctic region.” But even with the threat of Russian military action looming, the answer to why Denmark is rapidly developing its military capacities is more “likely to be found in Washington, D.C., than in Moscow or Beijing.”
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‘Increasingly risky’ to depend on American support
While the European Union has recently increased its push for countries to “spend defense euros on the continent” that will, in turn, “strengthen the local arms industry and build a credible military deterrent,” Denmark’s intra-EU purchase also comes at a time when “dependence on U.S. suppliers is seen as increasingly risky,” said DefenseNews. In part, that stems from President Donald Trump’s longstanding aim to annex Greenland from the Danish government, a move many Danes “still see as their most pressing — and worrying — diplomatic challenge,” CNN said. Limiting its new arms purchase to European contractors is then “likely act of protest” on the part of Denmark in a situation where, one western diplomat told the network, an American supplier would have “almost certainly” won the bid in years past.
Danish officials, meanwhile, insist that American firms were “not being passed over for political reasons,” said Germany’s Table media, nor has Denmark suggested publicly that it won’t make future American arms purchases. “The decision to go with more than one or two suppliers enables shorter delivery times,” said Denmark’s Lt. Gen. Per Pugholm Olsen, who heads the military’s Acquisition and Logistics Organization. Olden’s comments echo those of Prime Minister Frederikson from this past February, when Denmark first began ramping up its air defenses.
“If we can’t get the best equipment, buy the next best,” Frederiksen said. “There’s only one thing that counts now and that is speed.”
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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion’s news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
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