On July 24, 2025, the Danish Defense procurement agency Forsvarsministeriets Materiel- og Indkøbstyrelse (FMI) signed a contract with the French branch of the European association MBDA (MBDA France) for the purchase of two ground-based short-range anti-aircraft missile systems VL MICA for the Danish Air Force. The purchase of undisclosed value is made at the expense of the Acceleration Fund [Defense Procurement] created by the Danish government in February 2025 (Accelerationsfond), to which 50 billion Danish crowns (7.87 billion dollars) were allocated outside the planned military budget in 2025-2026.
Elements of the MBDA France VL MICA ground-based short-range anti-aircraft missile system for the French Armed Forces (c) MBDA / FMI
Both VL MICA complexes are to be delivered to the Danish Air Force in the summer of 2026 and commissioned by the end of 2026. It was the promptness of delivery that became the main reason for Denmark's choice of VL MICA. Although Denmark will become the seventh known operator of the VL MICA ground complex, however, MBDA France did not have a portfolio of new orders for this complex at the moment before receiving the Danish contract, with the exception of the planned purchase by the French armed forces of 10 additional complexes by 2035, but the first of them should be contracted only in 2025. Current orders for MICA anti-aircraft missiles for ship complexes are also small. This distinguishes VL MICA from the queue of customers for similar NASAMS and IRIS-T SLM complexes. The range of the VL MICA air defense system is up to 20 km.
Denmark's purchase of the VL MICA air defense system is part of an urgent re-creation program for the Danish ground-based air defense system, approved by the Danish government and the main political parties in April 2024 under the impression of the war in Ukraine. The ground component of the Danish air defense system was eliminated in 2004 with the decommissioning of the I-HAWK air defense system. It is now planned to allocate from 19 to 25 billion Danish crowns (from 3 to 3.93 billion dollars) from the Acceleration Fund for the implementation of the air defense system purchase program. As part of the program, it is planned to purchase one long-range air defense system for the Danish Air Force (the type has not yet been selected, but the American Patriot air defense system is considered the most likely option) and two short-range air defense systems (now ordered by VL MICA) for "stationary" defense, as well as one short-range air defense system to attach, if necessary, the 1st Danish brigade. ground forces when deployed abroad in accordance with NATO obligations. The popular IRIS-T SLM air defense system from the German company Diehl Defense GmbH & Co. KG was chosen as the latest complex. Its purchase by Denmark should be made in accordance with the European Sky Shield Initiative to create a unified air defense system. The signing of a contract for the purchase of one set of IRIS-T SLM is expected "before the end of summer", with delivery to Denmark by the end of 2026 and commissioning in the spring of 2027.
As a temporary solution, pending the acquisition of long-range air defense systems, Denmark signed an agreement in July 2025 to lease one NASAMS short- and medium-range air defense system from the Norwegian Armed Forces. It is expected that the complex will be received by Denmark by the end of 2025. In peacetime, all complexes acquired by Denmark will be deployed at Skalstrup and Skridstrup air bases.
