Scandinavian/Nordic non-football thread

The Royal Navies of Britain and Denmark Team-Up

The Navies of Denmark and the UK have signed a deal to support the UK Royal Navy’s next-generation Inspiration-class Type 31 frigates which design is based on the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class vessel and will allow both nations to jointly develop operational tasks involving the Danish and UK vessels.

The agreement was signed between Royal Danish Navy fleet rear admiral Torben Mikkelsen, and UK Royal Navy fleet commander vice admiral Andrew Burns. The mutual agreement will also enhance the future strategic relationship between the two navies.

Royal Danish Navy fleet admiral Mikkelsen said: “The agreement we’ve signed is a landmark and a continuation of that close relationship, and at the end of the day, the cooperation and the alike capacities in the frigates will strengthen both our navies’ ability to operate.”

The UK Type 31 (Iver Huitfeldt-class) frigate is expected to be in the water by the end of 2023. The cost of a Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate was only $325 million, making it vastly cheaper to construct than comparable and equally highly rated frigate-destroyers.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/05/uk-and-denmark-team-up-to-for-type-31-frigates/

 

NATO partners UK, Denmark and Norway have pledged to come to the military aid and defense of Sweden and Finland while they have not yet joined NATO, to keep Russia from doing a "Ukraine", with the knowledge that any kind of military action then would drag them into a direct confrontation with NATO.

 

It has just been confirmed that Denmark now also will be donating anti-ship Harpoon missiles to Ukraine.

After a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian Defense, the Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said : "I am especially grateful to Denmark, which announced today that it will donate Harpoon launchers and missiles to help Ukraine defend its coast,"

https://au.topnews.media/ukraine/de...i-ship-missiles-23-05-22-2024-war-in-ukraine/

 

Norwegian made Advanced Surface to Air Missile System to Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to announce the purchase of the highly advanced NASAMS (National/Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) for Ukraine as early as this week, the Norwegian NASAMS missile systems were used to guard air space over Washington, D.C. during the 2005 presidential inauguration and these units have since been used to protect the air space around the White House. The system is developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.


Danish harpoon missile systems

The Danish harpoon missile systems have now been in use, sinking the Russian ship Vasily Bekh (according to Russian state news media injuring 20 and with 12 of it's 32 men crew missing), trying to deliver a Russian “TOR” anti-aircraft missile system, troops and other weaponry to the Snake island close to the coast of Ukraine and also striking the island itself and some oil and gas platforms near by. Denmark (and now Ukraine) is the only country in the World that have the Mobile Land Based Harpoon defense systems (with 2 harpoon missile firing platforms each), and with an upgraded satellite-inertial GPS/INS navigation system, making them capable of not only hitting ships at sea, but also strike harbor and land targets such as shore defense sites, surface to air missile sites, exposed aircrafts, army headquarters, railways, bridges, port/industrial facilities and other land bases non-moving targets, according to Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

Ukraine received this system from Denmark back in May after secretly having been training the Ukrainians to be able to use them. The USA and UK obviously have the ship and air launching Harpoon systems that Ukraine unfortunately are not able to make use of, but they have talked about mounting some Harpoon platforms on trucks if possible and donate them to Ukraine, but non of this has become reality as of yet.

 

Nordic aid to Ukraine so far :

Military and humanitarian aid :
Around $750 million worth (more if you also count aid donated through UN and the Red Cross )
Anti tank weapons :
An unspecified secret number of Carl Gustaf M3 and M4 anti-tank weapons (donated by Denmark and Sweden)
11,500 AT4 light anti-tank weapons.
8,200 M72 LAW EC (Enhanced Capacity) anti-tank weapons
Missiles and heavy weaponry :
1 or 2 Mobile Land Based Harpoon missile systems (with 2 harpoon missile firing platforms each) including an unspecified number of RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles
22 M109 A3GN 155mm self-propelled howitzers, also including gear, spare parts and 10,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells.
3 M270 MLRS self-propelled rocked launchers
300 upgraded FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems
100 Mistral anti-aircraft missiles and and undisclosed number of launchers
An unspecified secret number of RBS-17 (Robot-17, Swedish anti-ship version of AGM-114 Hellfire)
Other weaponry :
50 upgraded M113 armored personnel carriers.
25 Sky-Watch tactical drones for reconnaissance and information gathering
2,500 assault rifles with 150,000 cartridges
An unspecified number of Barrett M82/AG90 heavy sniper rifles with ammunition
An unspecified number of anti-tank mines, 120mm M/10 mortars and thousands of mortar shells
Other equipment :
12,000 helmets.
10,500 bulletproof vests
1,000 gas masks
220,000 field rations
An unspecified amount and type of mine-clearance equipment.
1 fully equipped mobile field hospital
100 stretchers, and equipment for two emergency medical care stations
1,700 treatments against tetanus/lockjaw (requested via WHO)
700 first-aid field kits
2,000 sleeping bags
10,000 sleeping pads
40,000 liters of milk requested by the Ukrainian embassy in Oslo
Weaponry sold to other NATO countries and donated to Ukraine
54 upgraded M113 armored personnel carriers with armament (from Denmark, but purchased and donated by Germany)
2 National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS produced by Norway, but purchased and donated by the USA)

 

Yes, the Russian drones are all over the place, also here in Denmark. one of the arrested in Norway was even the son of a friend of Putin himself.

So, what do we factually know about any of it, that could lead to the most likely suspect?

1) it has now been concluded by Danish experts, by looking at the photos of one of the blown-up pipelines, that the blast would have been so enormously big that it could not have been caused by accident, or in other words it was sabotage. This also seem to be the general conclusion made by the authorities.

2) It has been noticed that besides the usual investigators, including the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) that you would expect to be involved in solving this, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) are also participating in the investigations, which is a bit unusual, because they are kind of like a Danish equivalent to the FBI, and so would usually only be part of an investigation if there is a suspicion of either native Danes or foreigners living permanently in Denmark being involved in some sort of terror attack or sabotage.

3) Norway is the 2nd largest pipeline gas exporter in the World behind Russia, and the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 blew up on the exact same day Norway's new gas pipeline to Poland was opened and went online.

4) In the weeks before and after the pipelines blew up, there have been a highly unusual incidents of unauthorized drone activity over the Danish and Norwegian gas fields going on. An expert Danish drone producer has said that these are not ordinary drones, but most likely military drones launched from a ship or submarine.

5) Drones have also been spotted in 3 incidents by the Norwegian military at the kårstø gas processing plant (on the 7th, 14th and 15. October). The kårstø gas processing plant is the largest of its kind in Europe and is vital for Norway being able to deliver gas and oil to the rest of Europe.

6) in 2 different incidents on the 11th and 14th of October, two Russian men (one of them by the name of Vitaly Rustanovich) in possession of drones have been arrested trying to cross the Norwegian border on their way to Russia. Their photographic equipment and drones were confiscated. Rustanovich himself claims that he came to Norway for tourist purposes and did not know about flying the drones being illegal. His hard drive was also confiscated for further investigation. Four other Russian (3 men and one woman) were arrested on the 11. October for filming and photographing Norwegian military facilities in the Nordland district. They also claim to be tourists, not knowing what they did was illegal, but besides their equipment, a huge amount of photos was confiscated.

7) Besides the drone activity, the infamous military "Research/Survey" spy-ship Akademik Boris Petrov was spotted (on the 7. October) north of the Danish Island of Læsø (along with 4 other Russian ships), where it was moving from the Baltic Sea through Kattegat. At the very same time as they were spotted, Seismologists from GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) recorded four minor tremors in the waters, all of which were measured at between 0.7 and 0.9 on the Ritcher scale. So measurable but unfortunately too weak seismic signals for GEUS to be able to exactly determine with certainty what was causing the seismic signals through further investigation and analysis.

GEUS noted that quote "In this connection, it is noted that the tremors have been detected in areas where there is no Danish critical infrastructure, and that the authorities are also closely monitoring the situation in the waters in and around Denmark.". Earlier this year a small private passenger airplane almost collided with an unauthorized drone, also near Læsø, on its way from Denmark to Norway. On 10. October the Danish Isle of Bornholm was struck by a mysterious total power cut. The authorities were talking about problems with the sea cable delivering electricity but have had no further comment regarding this incident since then.

8) The questions left about motives? and who benefit from all the above?
The USA or NATO?
Besides the talk about the US profiting from delivering gas to Europe, the USA have also been accused for the gas leak sabotage because of something Biden had earlier said, but Biden actually never mentioned taking down Nord Stream 1, only to put a stop to Nord Stream 2, but that pipeline has never been, and never will be operational, because the German Chancellor Scholz (also taking advised from Biden for sure) suspended certification of Nord Stream 2 on 22 February 2022, and after that, Russia and Gazprom officially wrote it off as a loss and the same did the Dutch investors, so the USA blowing it up now really would seem both pointless and politically toxic for their relationship with especially Germany, causing a divide in the NATO alliance , which could hardly be considered in the interest of the US, especially at this point in time, just before Europe could "freeze over".

Russia or Gazprom ?
Gazprom have been in breach of contract and in trouble for not delivering the gas they have been under contract to deliver to Germany this year, and so, to avoid paying billions in compensation, which would make them go bankrupt, they earlier made an excuse about repairs that was then proven to be untrue, so they have been in desperate need of a clear-cut excuse and could so have placed explosives by using remotely controlled robot "Pipeline Pigs" inside the pipes, so that when it blows up, pretend that it was outside sabotage.

If a NATO country (and especially the USA) were to blow up the pipelines, they would not be as stupid as to blowing it up near the coast of Bornholm and Denmark that is a founding member of NATO and likewise, Russia would not be blowing it up near their own borders, but exactly be motivated to do it near Bornholm and Denmark, and for several reasons, because Russia highly criticized Denmark and the isle of Bornholm in late May 2022 for being a quote "potential military bridgehead”, with Denmark now planning to allow US troops and the long range HIMARS missile system on Bornholm in the future, which Putin consider to be a direct threat to Kaliningrad and Russian soil. So, there were plenty of good reasons for Russia to do a "false flag" attack near Bornholm, besides helping Gazprom from going bankrupt, if they could make it look like the USA were doing sabotage near Bornholm, they could hope that this would make Denmark change their mind about having US troops on Bornholm, not to forget the fact that Russia no longer will have any future use for these pipelines anyway, but by blowing them up and blaming it on the USA they already have an excuse ready about them also having been struck by the same kind of sabotage and being innocent, if the Norwegian gas pipeline and infrastructure suddenly get struck by sabotage this winter, so that Poland and Germany would not be able to get any pipeline gas at all.

9) Now consider all the facts and make up your own conclusions.

 

I forgot to write that, on the 17. October the Norwegian police arrested 47-year-old Andrey Yakunin in Hammerfest, accused of flying a drone at Svalbard and possibly at other locations in Norway. Andrey Yakunin is the son of Vladimir Yakunin, the former president of Russian Railways and a close confidant of Putin.

 

The 15. March 2023, the Danish parliament agreed on establishing a $1 billion Ukraine Fund and weaponry package, which is going to more or less double the military donations made by Denmark to Ukraine (which so far include 2 Mobile land based RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship platforms + missiles, 80+ Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks in cooperation with Germany and the Netherlands, 54 M113 G3DK/G4DKs armored personnel carriers, 19 brand new CAESAR self-propelled howitzers, 16 brand new Zuzana self-propelled Howitzers in cooperation with Germany and Norway, Stinger air-defense systems including 407 missiles and 330 launchers, 25 Sky-Watch tactical drones especially designed for Ukraine, 8,000 RPG-7 rocket systems including 29,000 rockets, 5,600 Carl Gustaf anti-tank weapons, 2,700 M72 LAW anti-tank weapons, an unspecified number of Anti-tank mines, Heavy machine guns, mortars, Mine clearance equipment and other equipment, 232,500 field rations, 3,000 bulletproof vests, 2,200 first-aid field kits +11,000 compress kits and 1 field hospital + medical equipment, 35 ambulances (mainly donated by Falck) + a possible further 21 surplus ambulances from The Capital Region of Denmark, 1 tent camp (with room for 320 people), 96 Residential containers, around 100 industrial generators, 3,000 sleeping bags and so forth)

Obviously this is a political signal to the NATO partners to keep donating more. The USA keep donating "billions" on paper, like the one Patriot air defense system that is suppose to likewise be worth 1 billion $ but obviously would do Ukraine very little good if this is how all the money is spend on donations, because Ukraine really need a vast and broad range of donations, like tanks and fighter jets, able to keep them going and actually win the fight against Russia.

 

since I have now lost of my right to free speech in this forum in a thread where I'm the most knowable because this business model is my specialty and was formed in my home country, I will no longer post in this forum