Ivar Huitfeldt-class

The Absalon class flexible support ships share 80 percent commonality with the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates. Denmark is now officially calling its new surface combatants "frigates" -- previously, they had to be called "patrol ships" for political reasons. The name change appears to be justified: the new ships are described by senior program officials as the "largest, most powerful warships ever" for Denmark's navy.

Derived from the design of the Command Support Ship, the Frigate is primarily configured for multi-aspect warfare operations. Incorporation of a 32-cell Mk 41 vertical launcher amidships and an advanced anti-air warfare system based on an active-array multifunction radar makes this class of vessel prepared for area air defence and long range strikes. For other maritime missions the Frigates are equipped with four Standard Flex containers each ready for 12 Evolved SeaSparrow missiles or eight Harpoon Block II missiles. The armament further includes two OTO-Melara 76 mm Super Rapido guns forward, one of which can be replaced by a US Mk 45 Mod 4 127 mm gun. For close defence the Frigates are armed with one 35 mm Millennium gun aft, Stinger missiles and heavy machine guns.

Production of the first of three new frigates for the Royal Danish Navy started 26 February 2008 in Lithuania. The Baltija Shipyard at Klaipeda, Lithuania, is one of two companies in the Baltic Republics that have won a role as subcontractor to supply building block sections for the 138-meter (450-ft.)-long ships. The other subcontractor is Loksa Shipyard in Estonia. The first building blocks were scheduled to arrive at the main shipbuilder, Odense Steel Shipyard in Lindo, Denmark, during May 2008, and a formal keel laying ceremony in early June 2008. The keel for the first of these three 6,600-metric-ton warships, which have formidable anti-air warfare and land-support capabilities, was laid down on 02 June 2009.

The Board of the Odense yard decided 10 August 2009 to discontinue the shipbuilding activities, when the contracted orders have been fulfilled. Thus the present workforce will be continuously downsized to accommodate production. The contracted orders (five bulk carriers, seven Ro-Ro ships and three frigates) extend to August 2010, November 2011, and February 2012, respectively. The first redundancies of approx. 175 employees are expected to take place from the end of August 2009.

The three ships, to be called the Ivar Huitfeldt-class as this would be the name for the lead ship, have a more or less common hull to the two Absalon-class combat support ships built in recent years. The frigate program has an overall projected cost of 4.7 billion Danish kronor ($936 million, so $312 million per ship. They are to replace three Olfert Fischer-class missile corvettes and ten Willemoes-class fast attack craft (the latter had been decommissioned prior to 2008).

Each AAW suite consists of one APAR Multifunction Radar, one SMART-L Volume Search Radar and one Fire Control Cluster. The suites are to be installed on the new Patrol Ships for the Royal Danish Navy. The Patrol Ships, each displacing about 6000 tons, will be built by the Odense Steel Shipyard Ltd. in Denmark. The three ships are scheduled to be handed over to the Royal Danish Navy in the period between 2011 and 2013.

The Danish Naval Materiel Command selected the Thales AAW suite because of its track record and proven performance. The integration with US missiles was considered a major factor just as the positive experience gained with Thales in the procurement of the SMART-S Mk2 radar systems. With this choice, the Royal Danish Navy, one of the world's leading navies, will be able to successfully fulfil its current and future missions.

The AAW suite has imbedded capability growth potential in Tactical Ballistic Missile Defence. The first demonstrations of this capability have already been given with the same AAW suite on board the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate participating in recent US Navy TBMD tests in November and December this year near Hawaii. The selection of Thales means that the Naval Materiel Command of Denmark will be at the forefront of technological developments in this field.

By selecting Thales, the Royal Danish Navy will be able to cooperate closely with the two other users of this AAW suite: the Federal German Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy. This cooperation, including logistics and future update programs, will be highly beneficial to all parties involved.

The Royal Danish Navy joined Germany, Japan and the Netherlands as first users of the revolutionary Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination (ICWI) principle that gives the APAR Multifunction Radar its unparalleled performance. It also enters the long list of navies using the SMART-L technology for their Volume Search capability, i.e. France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and now Denmark.

The three area air defense-capable ships are to enter service between 2012-14. "Iver Huitfeldt" is the first of Denmark's three new frigates. The ship was delivered from Lindø yard for Defence Materiel service in January 2011. When it is fully equipped with, among other things. advanced radar and missile systems, transferred it to the Navy at the beginning of 2012. The destroyer escort "Iver Huitfeldt" went through a shock test explosion o n Tuesday 04 October 2010 in the waters east of Samso. A shock test consisting of a series of powerful explosions with plastic explosives, right down to 11 metres from the ship. The explosions must show, inter alia, the ship's electronic systems meet a number of requirements. he effect of an explosion with e.g. 45 kilos of explosives, matches that the ship is hit by a missile, or that a torpedo explodes close to the ship. In those cases, the ship systems continue to function.

Frigate PETER WILLEMOES (F362) now operational with Royal Danish Navy. During a ceremony at Naval Base Korsør on 09 January 2014 HDMS PETER WILLEMOES was declared operational and officially delivered to the Royal Danish Navy Royal Danish Navy first operative frigate PETER WILLEMOES started a very challenging traning program including exercise COLD RESPONSE in Norwegian waters in 2014. Later in the spring the frigate joined the British led JOINT WARRIOR exercise followed by two weeks training at the German traning establisment in Neustadt. Additional exercises followed in 2014 and early spring 2015 leading towards participation in the six weeks long British certification program led by Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) in April/May 2015.