City Research Online

Abstract

In the coming decade Denmark will initiate the replacement of its current fleet of F-16 fighters. In the spring of 2009 most indicators suggest that politicians will have a choice between one of three options: the American F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and F-18 Super Hornet, produced by Lockheed Martin and Boing respectively, and the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen. Denmark is thus on the verge of taking the first step in a process that is broadly similar to the one which preceded the purchase of the F-16 in 1975. Also back then was there a choice between three candidates of American (F-16), Swedish (Saab 37E Viggen) and European (Dassault Mirage F1E (French)) origin. The purpose of the present article is to analyse the foreign policy considerations which preceded the purchase of the F-16 in 1975 and to discuss their relevance with regards to the present pending decision.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistributethe material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, the original work provided is properly cited and states its license.
Publisher Keywords:	F-16; F-35; Denmark; weapons procurement; security policy; Cold War
Subjects:	J Political Science J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics

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