Europe will deliver the first batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine within the next several months, with more to come later this year, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren has said.
Denmark will be the first Western country to supply Ukraine with the advanced aircraft, with the Netherlands soon to follow, the defense minister revealed in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, as she wrapped up her visit to Kiev. “I’m very confident that we will start delivering F-16s this summer... Denmark first, and we have a schedule ... so in the second half of the year, the Dutch F-16s will be going this way,” Ollongren said, without providing details on how many jets would be included in the first shipments. She added that it will not be easy for the West to provide Ukraine with all the aid it needs, as the US struggles to approve President Joe Biden’s assistance package earmarking $60 billion for Kiev. Republican lawmakers have opposed the move, demanding that the White House do more to enhance US border security. Ollongren also called for ammunition production in the EU to be ramped up amid Ukraine’s complaints that it suffers from a lack of munitions. “We have to be realistic, and consider the possibility that it might be a lengthy war, and it is better to plan for a long war,” she said. Western countries announced an international coalition to help Ukraine procure US-designed F-16s and train its pilots last year, with plans to provide Kiev with more than 40 aircraft. Denmark has pledged to send Kiev 19 jets of this type. The Netherlands initially promised 18, later increasing the number by six. Media reports indicate that Norway could send Kiev five to ten F-16s, with Belgium pledging to support Ukraine with an undisclosed number. Ukrainian officials, however, have warned that the country could face infrastructure difficulties in maintaining the US-designed jets. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in November that while the F-16s will certainly add to Ukraine’s capabilities, they will not be “a silver bullet” to fundamentally change the battlefield situation. Russia has warned the West that arms shipments to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict without changing the ultimate outcome. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also said that F-16s would be “legitimate targets” for the Russian military, adding that the shipments will only increase the risk of a direct clash between Moscow and NATO.
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Denmark may become the latest Scandinavian nation to start forcing women to serve in its military, expanding its conscription program to help bolster defences amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen unveiled the initiative on Wednesday in Copenhagen, telling reporters that requiring women to join the military will help achieve “full equality between the sexes.” She added, “We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it.” Denmark’s military currently has about 13,700 troops, including 9,000 professional soldiers and 4,700 conscripts in training. Frederiksen’s government aims to increase the number of conscripts to 5,000 and to make both men and women subject to compulsory service. Danish law currently requires all able-bodied men to be conscripted for about four months of military service. Not all men are forced to serve because volunteers reduce the need for compulsory enlistment. Female volunteers currently account for about 25% of Denmark’s 4,700 short-term forces. Plans call for enacting a new conscription law in 2025 and implementing the system in 2026. The new troops will spend five months in training, followed by six months of operational service. The region’s security landscape has become “more and more serious, and we have to take that into account when we look at future defence,” Danish Défense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters. “A broader basis for recruiting that includes all genders is needed.” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen emphasized that Russia doesn’t currently pose a threat to Danish security. “But we will not bring ourselves to a place where they could come to do that.” Sweden began conscripting both men and women in 2017. Four years earlier, Norway became the first NATO member to impose compulsory military service on women. Frederiksen has called for “scaling up” defences in European countries to deter Russian aggression. “Freedom comes with a price,” she said last month in an interview with the Financial Times. “It is our own responsibility to be able to protect ourselves.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly pointed out that Moscow has no interest in attacking NATO countries or in escalating the crisis in Ukraine into a wider conflict. Ukraine will encounter difficulties maintaining the US-made F-16 fighter jets scheduled to arrive in the country later this year, a spokesman for the Air Force has acknowledged.
Speaking on national TV on Saturday, Yury Ignat said he was sure that Kiev would eventually switch from Soviet-era jets to Western warplanes, including F-16s and also the Swedish-made Gripen. Stockholm earlier said deliveries were possible, but that it would first have to be accepted into NATO. However, according to the official, until the Ukrainian military transitions to new aircraft, it will face serious infrastructure challenges as it tries to maintain several types of jet simultaneously – even though infrastructure for NATO aircraft is relatively standardized. “Different countries have one, or at most two types of planes. As of today, we have four types of Soviet-era planes. We want to take on the Western F-16s and more… It will be extremely difficult to maintain and operate different types of aircraft,” Western countries announced the creation of a coalition to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets and train its pilots to fly the advanced warplanes last year, with Kiev officials expecting the first deliveries in 2024. The Netherlands and Denmark have spearheaded the effort, promising to donate up to 61 planes of this type. However, the Danish newspaper Berlingske reported earlier this month that the delivery of F-16s by Copenhagen would be delayed by up to six months. At the time, Ignat cautioned against making a “disaster” out of the report, urging the public to rely on official statements. Russia, which has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, has warned that aircraft deliveries will not help Kiev drastically change the situation on the frontline, while vowing to destroy F-16s along with other foreign-supplied equipment. In July, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the upcoming deliveries a “dangerous development,” recalling that some modifications of the F-16 can carry nuclear weapons. Investigative journalists have been carrying out their own research to solve the Nord Stream whodunnit, leading to sometimes sensational, if unconfirmed, reports.
Dutch military intelligence warned the CIA of a Ukrainian plan to blow up the pipelines three months before the attack, Dutch broadcaster NOS and Germany’s Die Zeit and ARD reported in June. The Washington Post made a similar claim. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied his country was behind the sabotage. “I would never do that,” he told Germany’s Bild newspaper, adding he would “like to see proof”. In March, The New York Times wrote that US officials had seen intelligence indicating a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible, without Zelenskyy’s knowledge. German media have focused on the Andromeda, with reporters from Der Spiegel magazine and broadcaster ZDF recreating the journey they believe was made by the six-person crew. According to their reporting, a forged passport used to hire the sailboat leads back to a Ukrainian soldier, while the charter fee was paid by a company registered in Poland with ties to a woman in Kyiv. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported Germany was trying to match DNA samples found on the vessel “to at least one Ukrainian soldier”. The Journal also said evidence found in the investigation included data from Andromeda’s radio and navigation equipment, satellite and mobile phones, and Gmail accounts allegedly used by the perpetrators. Danish media have reported a Russian naval vessel specialised in submarine operations, the SS-750, was photographed near the site of the blasts days before the attack. US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in February the US was behind the blasts and that Norway assisted. It was dismissed as “fiction” by the White House. Was it a false flag operation? Experts have not ruled out a “false flag” operation by Russia, with clues deliberately placed to pin the blame on Ukraine. Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies, said he sees Russia as “the most likely” culprit. Any suspected involvement by Kyiv in an attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure could threaten the support of allies, which would benefit Russia. At the same time, the destroyed pipelines could help Gazprom avoid compensation claims for undelivered gas, even though the company was reluctant to keep the taps open before the blasts. Moscow may have sought “to kill two birds with one stone”, Umland said. The Kremlin has strongly denied responsibility. Moscow blames the US Russia has alleged the US was behind the attack, noting the sabotage “occurred after the repeated threats to the Nord Stream by the leadership of the United States”. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the argument that Kyiv was behind the explosions, instead laying blame on the US. “Who is interested? Theoretically, the United States is interested in stopping the supply of Russian energy to the European market and supplying volumes of its own,” he told an interviewer. “Such an explosion, so powerful and at such depth, could only be conducted by experts backed by the entire potential of a state that has relevant technologies,” said Putin. Diplomatically sensitive investigations ongoing The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, so both countries launched investigations into the incident. So far, they say the explosions were deliberate, but they have yet to single out who was behind the blasts. Germany also launched an investigation with federal prosecutors searching a yacht in January that might have been used to transport the explosives. They seized objects from the vessel and found traces of explosives. The Netherlands and Denmark said on Sunday that they would give Ukraine long-demanded F-16 fighter jets. The move was announced during a meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, as the leaders toured an airbase in Eindhoven.
“Today we can announce that the Netherlands and Denmark commit to the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force, including cooperation with the United States and other partners once the conditions for such a transfer have been met,” Rutte said during a joint press conference with Zelensky. The prime minister noted that his country has 42 aircraft of this type, but that it is too early to say how many will be donated to Kiev. At least 12 of the aircraft had been up for sale, with the Netherlands and Argentina negotiating a potential deal for the planes for several years. Zelensky hailed the decision as a “historic” breakthrough, and implied that Amsterdam would hand over its entire F-16 inventory to Ukraine. “Mark Rutte and I agreed on the number of F-16s that will be provided to Ukraine – after training our pilots and engineers. 42 planes. And this is just the beginning,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. Simultaneously, the Danish Defense Ministry released a statement, confirming the country will provide Kiev with F-16s. The ministry did not disclose the exact number of planes to be sent, confirming the aircraft will be supplied under certain “conditions,” which “include, but are not limited to, successfully selected, tested and trained Ukrainian F-16 personnel as well as necessary authorizations, infrastructure and logistics.” “Denmark’s support for Ukraine is unwavering, and with the donation of F16 aircraft, Denmark is now leading the way,” Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen stated. Both the Netherlands and Denmark are in the process of phasing out older US-made F-16 fighter jets and replacing them with modern F-35s. Denmark has around 40 aircraft of the older type in its inventory. Kiev has long demanded combat aircraft from its Western backers, arguing that F-16s – and, potentially, planes of other types – would help turn the tide in the conflict with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly urged the West to stop “pumping” Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry, arguing that it will only prolong the hostilities without changing the outcome. The Denmark-based pedal builder sets heads spinning with its reproduction of the analog delay unit beloved by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Danish effects firm T-Rex has been catching everyone’s eye at this year’s show with the long-awaited release of its Binson Echorec Magnetic Disk Delay – a reproduction of the original Echorec circuit, complete with spinning drum.The original Echorec worked on a magnetic disk, which uses a thin wire, rather than a tape to imprint the delay signal. It is responsible for some of rock music’s most iconic delay sounds and was used heavily in Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin recordings. Listen to David Gilmour’s guitar on Time or John Bonham’s ricocheting drum sound on ’Zeppelin’s When The Levee Breaks to hear it in action. T-Rex says it’s spent about seven years trying to get it right and the new delay pedal slavishly recreates the original circuit, meaning you can use that unobscured, or you can switch in a few new options along the way.
As such, you now have a choice between two recording heads at the input stage: a long head and short head – the short head is spec’d to directly reproduce the original EchoRec’s timing, while the long head is a new option allowing you to capture a longer initial sample. Another modern addition is a speed dial that allows you to vary the pace by +/- 20%, then there are four playback heads, which can be switched in and out using light-up push buttons. The unit is all built into a (massive) stompbox, with what looks like a pretty bomb-proof enclosure for the rotating drum and it has a footswitchable bypass, so does not require connecting to an external footswitch. Holding down the bypass for three seconds stops the drum rotating – though, let’s be honest, that is the fun part. Elsewhere, there’s a tone dial, which alters the EQ balance of the echo signal and a toggle switch to select between the echoing ‘repeat’ effect, or the reverb-like ‘swell’ setting.
In support of BALTOPS, U.S. Navy 6th Fleet partnered with U.S. Navy research and warfare centers to bring the latest advancements in unmanned underwater vehicle mine hunting technology to the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the vehicle’s effectiveness in operational scenarios. Experimentation was conducted off the coast of Bornholm, Denmark, with participants from Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, and Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring all under the direction of U.S. 6th Fleet Task Force 68.
“In prior BALTOPS we demonstrated advanced capabilities to detect, reacquire and collect images of mine contacts, and transfer those images in near real-time to operators through the use of a specialized Office of Naval Research UUV,” said Anthony Constable, Office of Naval Research science advisor to U.S. 6th Fleet. “This year, through the work of NIWC Pacific and NUWC Newport, we are showing that this capability can be integrated into programs of record by executing complex multi-vehicle UUV missions with modified U.S. Navy fleet assets.”
An additional critical objective was to continue to increase the communication range and data transfer capability to give the operators more flexibility in mine hunting operations. Advancements in communication technology, demonstrated this year, have shown a significant improvement in operating ranges over currently used systems. This provides additional standoff flexibility to the U.S. Navy in conducting safe mine hunting operations. BALTOPS also provides a unique opportunity for the U.S. research, development and acquisition communities to exercise the current and emerging UUV technology in real-world operational environments. This year featured the current and future programs of record for mine hunting UUVs in the Mk18 and Lionfish systems. Both systems were put through the paces over 10 days of mine-hunting operations, collecting over 200 hours of undersea data. “The major benefit of the BALTOPS experimentation is to provide advanced mine hunting capabilities to the operator in the field. By exercising the future capabilities, U.S. 6th Fleet can provide valuable feedback to help guide the Navy acquisition community responsible for mine hunting UUV development and procurement,” said Lt. Joshua Lynn, U.S. 6th Fleet experimental lead for BALTOPS. “This year we have seen the near- and long-term future in mine hunting UUV technology and we are excited to see how quickly the technology and capabilities are improving.” Source: seapowermagazine.org Lora Smith WASHINGTON, August 21 -- The US president told reporters that buying Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but has extensive home rule, would be “a large real estate deal” that could ease a financial burden on Denmark, but Denmark’s prime minister did not want to talk about a possible US purchase of the island of Greenland. President Donald Trump said he would be putting off a planned meeting with Denmark’s prime minister because she did not want to talk about a possible US purchase of the island of Greenland. “Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump said in a Twitter post on Tuesday night. “The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!” the president wrote. Trump had been scheduled to make a state visit to Denmark on Sept. 2 on the invitation of Queen Margrethe II. Hours before the trip was called off, Carla Sands, the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, tweeted that the Scandinavian country was “ready for the POTUS @realDonaldTrump visit! Partner, ally, friend.” Earlier this week, the president told reporters that buying Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but has extensive home rule, would be “a large real estate deal” that could ease a financial burden on Denmark. Frederiksen had ruled out any sale. Danish officials have been adamant about no-sale since reports emerged last week that Trump had directed advisers and lawyers to review a possible deal. “Greenland isn’t for sale, Greenland isn’t Danish, Greenland is Greenlandic,” she said Sunday during a visit to Greenland, according to local newspaper Sermitsiaq. “I keep trying to hope that this isn’t something that was seriously meant.” Larry Kudlow, head of the National Economic Council, earlier Sunday said Greenland is a “strategic place” rich in valuable minerals and that discussions are continuing. “The president, who knows a thing or two about buying real estate, wants to take a look at a potential Greenland purchase,” Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.” However serious White House discussions of a sale might have been, the topic prompted jokes on both sides of the Atlantic since Trump’s interest was first reported. He got into the act on Monday night with a tweet showing an image of a golden Trump tower on an austere Greenland landscape. “I promise not to do this to Greenland,” Trump wrote. Lora Smith COPENHAGEN, August 15 -- Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Thursday posted second-quarter profit above expectations and reaffirmed its full-year guidance. But Maersk also warned a trade war between the United States and China could hurt the container sector. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled $1.36 billion (1.13 billion pounds), topping the $1.24 billion forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, said it still expects EBITDA for the full year to total $5 billion. Lora Smith COPENHAGEN, August 10 -- An explosion damaged a police station in Copenhagen early on Saturday, in the second blast to hit the Danish capital in four days. No one was injured in the blast, which happened outside a station in the Norrebro, just outside the city centre, police said on Twitter. On Tuesday (Aug 6), one person was slightly injured in an explosion outside the Danish Tax Agency's office, in what police said was a deliberate attack. Police told Reuters it was too early to say whether the two blasts were connected, but could not immediately comment further. Police were searching for a man running from the scene of the blast, Ekstra Bladet said. Serious attacks or violence are rare in the small Nordic country of 5.7 million people that prides itself on a reputation for safety and social tolerance. "Iraqi suspects ordered detonator, downloaded bomb-making instructions and tested explosive powder" BERLIN, January 30 -- German authorities arrested three suspected Islamic extremists on allegations they were planning a bombing attack, and searched properties in three states in connection with their investigation. Federal prosecutors said Iraqis Shahin F. and Hersh F., both 23, and Rauf S., 36, were taken into custody in an early morning raid by a police SWAT team in the area of Dithmarschen, near the border with Denmark. In addition, searches were carried out of other residences in northern and southwestern Germany of people linked to the three main suspects but not currently to the bomb plot. The two younger men are suspected of preparing a bomb attack and violating weapons laws, and Rauf S. is alleged to have aided them. Their last names were not given in line with German privacy laws.The men appear to have been in the early stages of planning, and had not yet built a functioning bomb nor decided upon a target for attack, prosecutors said in a statement. Prosecutors allege Shahin F. and Hersch F. decided in late 2018 to “carry out an attack motivated by Islamic extremism in Germany.” There are indications that they sympathized with Islamic State, but a direct link to the extremist group or others is currently under investigation. In December, Shahin F. downloaded “various instructions” on how to build a bomb, and ordered a detonator from a contact person in Britain, prosecutors said. Its delivery, however, was stopped by British law enforcement agencies. COPENHAGEN, January 2 -- Several people were killed in a train accident on a Danish bridge linking the central islands of Zealand and Funen, police said. It has been reported six people were killed in the incident, which took place on Wednesday about 8am. Danish media reported a tarpaulin on a freight train hit a passenger train going in the opposite direction toward Copenhagen, prompting it to brake suddenly. The passenger train had departed from the city of Odense, on the central Danish island of Fyn. The Storebaelt bridge is part of a system of bridges and a tunnel linking the Danish islands. Police is scheduled to give a news conference later Wednesday. In a statement, police urged passengers to contact next of kin to inform them of their safety. The accident took place on a road-and-rail bridge, part of a transport system consisting of a road suspension bridge and a railway tunnel. The transport system was closed to cars Wednesday because of strong winds but trains could pass. ROTTERDAM, December 28 -- In the latest troubling study regarding how the climate crisis is affecting the world's iciest regions, a new report by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) found that the second-largest ice sheet in the world is currently melting even in winter. The study follows a report released earlier this month showing that Greenland's ice melt rate is currently faster than it's been in about 7,000 years. The island's 650,000 cubic miles of ice is melting 50 percent faster than it did in pre-industrial times. "Greenland is a bit like a sleeping giant that is awakening," says Edward Hanna, a climate scientist at the University of Lincoln. "Who knows how it will respond to a couple of more degrees of warming? It could lose a lot of mass very quickly." The ice sheet's persistent melting even in winter has come about because huge waves below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, created by unusually strong winter winds, are pushing warm water up to Greenland—creating an environment that's hostile for the country's icy ecosystem, explains SAMS.
These "coastally trapped internal waves" are "pushing warm water into the fjord and towards the glacier, causing melting hundreds of metres below the ocean surface," says Dr. Neil Fraser, an ocean physicist who led the study. Greenland's huge ice sheet also makes it a huge contributor to rising sea levels, SAMS noted, accounting for more than 20 percent of the annual increase in sea levels. Accelerating, year-round run-off that persists even in the coldest months of the year is "the greatest contributor to sea level rise," says Sarah Das, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. COPENHAGEN, December 20 -- The Danish government will begin holding foreign criminals on a remote island, located approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Copenhagen. The controversial plan was included in the 2019 budget proposal, which the legislature approved on Thursday. Under the measure, some 100 migrant criminals would be sent to Lindholm Island. People with criminal records and those who were denied asylum, but cannot be deported due to risk of torture or execution in their home countries, would be included. Denmark has taken a tough stance on immigration in recent years. The center-right government, which governs with the anti-immigration People's Party, has made notable changes to reduce the flow of migrants. These include the reduction of benefits for asylum-seekers, shortening temporary residence permits, stepping up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers and granted power to authorities to seize valuables from migrants, to help finance the costs of their stay. Thursday's budget proposal also includes a cap on family reunification. "Now we tell people from day one that they should not remain in Denmark for the rest of their lives. They only get temporary shelter until they can return home," said Peter Skaarup, parliamentary group leader of the Danish People's Party, when the measure was introduced to the budget law earlier this month. Island decontamination required Lindholm Island has been used as a laboratory and crematory by scientists researching swine flu, rabies and other contagious diseases. The government said it would decontaminate the uninhabited island by late 2019 and open the detention facilities in 2021. "They are unwanted in Denmark and they must feel that," said Integration Minister Inger Stojberg in a Facebook post, shortly after the proposal was announced in early December. The foreign criminals will be allowed to leave the island during the day, but will have to report their whereabouts to authorities and return at night. Martin Henriksen of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party said that the decision was somewhat inspired by Australia, which currently holds asylum-seekers in detention centers on neighboring Pacific island nations. But the mayor of Vordingborg municipality, Mikael Smed, where the island is located, was not enthusiastic about the measure."People think this is not the solution to the real problems," Smed said prior to Thursday's parliamentary vote. UN condemns the move UN human rights Chief Michelle Bachelet had expressed concerned about the island measure. "I have serious concerns with this plan and we will monitor it and discuss it ... with the government," Bachelet told journalists in Geneva earlier this month. "We've seen the negative impact of such policies of isolation, and (they) should not replicate these policies. Because depriving them of their liberty, isolating them, and stigmatizing them will only increase their vulnerability," Bachelet added. Human rights activists have likewise denounced the decision, calling it degrading and inhumane. |
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