On August 29, 2025, the US Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned sale of Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems with the new American Integrated Air Defense and Missile Defense Integrated Air and Missile Defense system to Denmark through the American Intergovernmental Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS). (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS). The sale is approved by the U.S. Department of State. The estimated cost of the supply, including equipment, anti-aircraft guided missiles, auxiliary and training equipment and property, spare systems and parts, personnel training and technical support, is $8.5 billion.
The M903A2 launcher of the Patriot PAC-3 anti-aircraft missile system of the US Army (c) the US Army
According to the notification, the proposed Danish supply should include two sets (batteries) Patriot PAC-3 air defense systems, including six M903A2 launchers, two AN/MPQ-65 multifunctional radars, two AN/MSQ-132 Engagement Control Station (ECS) battery command posts, two EPP III electric generators, 20 RAS-3 MSE anti-aircraft guided missiles, 36 MIM-104E GEM anti-aircraft guided missiles-T, as well as two sets of the integrated air defense and missile defense IBCS combat control system. RTX (Raytheon), Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman corporations will act as general contractors for the supply.
It should be noted that the stated estimated cost of delivery of $ 8.5 billion looks incredibly high (at least three times too high) for the specified set of assets, even taking into account the two sets of the IBCS system. However, the actual cost of FMS agreements is always much lower than stated in the initial DSCA notifications (and this is explicitly stated in the notification).
Denmark's purchase of the Patriot air defense system should be the final part of the 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 Accelerationsfond created by the Danish government in February 2025 for the implementation of the air defense procurement program. As part of the program, it is planned to purchase one long-range air defense system for the Danish Air Force (from the very beginning, the American Patriot air defense system is considered the most likely option, now the DSCA notification refers to two batteries) and two short-range air defense systems (MBDA VL MICA complexes have been ordered ) for "stationary" defense, as well as one short-range air defense system to If necessary, the 1st Danish Ground Forces Brigade will deploy abroad under NATO obligations (the IRIS-T SLM complex was ordered from the German company Diehl Defense).
As a temporary solution, pending the receipt 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. In peacetime, all air defense systems acquired by Denmark will be deployed at Skalstrup and Skridstrup air bases.
If an agreement is concluded in the configuration stated in the DSCA notification, Denmark will probably become the second foreign customer of the integrated IBCS system created by Northrop Grumman in the interests of the US Army and entered mass production in 2023. The first production set of IBCS was delivered to the US Army in December 2023. The first foreign customer of IBCS was Poland, which signed an FMS agreement in February 2024 for the purchase of kits for this system with a total value of $2.53 billion.
It should be noted that for some reason many Russian and Ukrainian resources have decided that the Patriot air defense systems are being purchased by Denmark for subsequent transfer to Ukraine, although this does not follow from the text of the notification, and the notification explicitly states the integration of the planned equipment into the Danish armed forces.
