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In Detail —— Denmark's Arctic Assets & Canada's Response ——

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Canada's Arctic Sovereignty  –  Denmark's Claims in the Arctic  –  April 2005 Denmark's  Arctic  Assets  and  Canada's  Response  –  Sovereignty and Strategic Resources of the High Arctic Sidebar  –  Danish Naval Assets in Greenland: KDM Armament and Helicopters Big Guns: the 76mm Maskinkanon M/85 LvSa The KDM's M/85 is essentially similar to the CF 76mm gun as fitted to the Tribal-class destroyer. (Both are OTO-Melara 76/62 Super Rapid guns.) While CF naval officers swear by the superiority of the more modern 57mm gun fitted to Canadian Halifax class frigates, these 76mm gun maintain a ship-to-shore capability that the 57mm gun lacks. The M/85 has a range of 16km, elevates from -15° to +80°, projectiles weigh 6.0kg, the rate of fire is 120rpm, and the fire control system  (9LV 200 Mk 3) is by SaabTech Vectronics. [1] Little Guns: the 20mm Maskinkanon M/42 Both Agdlek and Thetis class mount  two [2] 20mm cannons for air defence and other use. This Maskinkanon M/42 LvSa is an Oerlikon design which fires 475 rounds per minute fed from a distinctive 60rd drum magazine. Range is 4000m (at 21°), firing horizontally drops the maximum range to 3000m. The mount elevates from -10° to +90° (both elevation and traverse are manual). Explosive projectiles weigh 121g. Little Guns:  the Browning Tungt Maskingevær M/01 LvSa  Heavy  Machinegun Both Agdlek and  Thetis class vessels also mount Browning M2HB 12.7mm machineguns – known in KDM service as the 12,7 mm Tungt Maskingevær M/01 LvSa. Identical to the M2HBs aboard CF ships, two M/01s arm each class of Danish ship (2 x M/01 were added to the Adgleks in 2004). Luftmål and the SVF  –  SAMs and Choppers The KDM uses FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles on a handy, manual twin-mount – the M/00 Håndbåren eller fastmonteret i dobbelt affutage LvSa2. Currently M/00s are not fitted on ships in Greenland waters but easily could be. The Thetis class carry one shipboard heli- copter operated by the Søvårnets Flyvetjenste (SVF or the Naval Aviation Service). Helicopters are used for spotting , search-and-rescue, and  'vertical replenishment'. A SVF detachment aboard each Thetis class operates a single Westland Lynx helicopter. Forward of the landing deck is a hangar big enough to house this Lynx for maintenance without  folding the tail. [3]  The Danes first bought shipboard Lynx to coincide with the Danish establishment of 170km (200 nautical mile) exclusive economic zones  –  including the 200 nm EEZ which surrounds Greenland. [1] The Thetis have a minimum armaments fit. As Standard Flex 3000s, these ships could, in theory, easily accommodate 8 Sea Sparrow air-defence missiles and twin point-defence systems, two triple-tubed torpedo launchers, 8 Harpoon surface-to- surface missiles, chaff and SLQ-25 Nixie decoy launchers, and a towed sonar array. A segment of the transom raises visor-like whenever the towed array is deploying. [2] Both vessel types use 2 x single 20mm gun mounts. Other KDM ships use twin mounts ( 'dobbelt affutager ') then becoming the 20mm Maskinkanon M/42 LvSa2. [3] The Danes ordered EH101 maritime helicopters for use on other KDM ships. It may be that the Thetis hangar was sized to accommodate these larger helicopters. <   Return to:   Part 3  –  Danish Arctic Assets  –  Maritime Capabilities