Denmark, with a population of 5.3 million, spends about 4.5 per cent of its budget on defence. It maintains a standing defence force of 34,000 troops. The Danish army has 300 main battle tanks (German Leopards and British Centurion); over 700 armoured personnel carriers (APCs); 335 Howitzer artillery pieces, 76 of them self-propelled; 600 ground-to-air missile systems; 1,272 antitank missile systems; and 25 helicopters.
The Danish navy has five squadrons with 100 military craft, from modern attack ships to support vessels. There is also a naval air squadron with eight helicopters.
The Danish royal air force has 69 F16 American-manufactured fighter bombers. These are the leading combat aircraft in the world, in use by the US and Israeli Air Forces.
The Danes also have three C-130 Hercules strategic lift aircraft; two long-range inspection jet aircraft; eight Sea King search and rescue aircraft; and eight air defence squadrons with surface-to-air missile systems.
The Republic of Ireland, with a population of 3.6 million and its burgeoning economy, spends far less on defence.
The Defence Forces' current strength is around 11,500. The Army has no main battle tanks (MBTs), although the Defence Forces' web site (www.military.ie) states that "there has been expertise in handling MBTs".
The site states that the Army has "only light artillery weapons and only a low-level air defence capability." Exact figures for the number of armoured vehicles were not available yesterday. There are known to be two Russian-manufactured Sizu armoured personnel carriers and a small number of armoured scout cars and light artillery vehicles. It is understood the Army has about 18 Howitzer artillery pieces, around 50 mortars and a similar number of surface-to-air missile systems.
There are seven small ships in the Naval Service, all very lightly armed. The Air Corps states on its web page that it has (unspecified numbers of) De Havilland Vampire, Beechcraft King Air 200, Casa and Fouga Magister fixed wing aircraft and Dauphin, Alouette and Gazelle helicopters.
The De Havilland Vampire referred to in the website was the first jet fighter aircraft manufactured in Britain after the second World War. It was in service with a number of air forces, particularly the Indian and Australian, until the mid-1950s. There is a considerable amount of Internet interest from vintage aircraft enthusiasts in the Vampire.
Similarly, vintage jet enthusiasts are permanently seeking models and parts of the Fouga Magister, the French training jet which was manufactured in the 1950s.
The Air Corps has an estimated 13 helicopters, including seven Alouette and two Gazelle aircraft which are more than 20 years old. In effect, the Defence Forces have no air strike or troop lifting capability.
In the approach to membership of the NATO-led Partnership for Peace (PfP) the Defence Forces have been undergoing major change to create a light infantry force with about nine battalions of infantry troops. The Army is also embarking on the largest re-equipment programme in its history, with the acquisition of 40 armoured personnel carriers from the Swiss armaments company, Mowag, at a cost of at least £40 million.
However, this expenditure would be dwarfed if it is decided the Defence Forces should participate fully in EU security and defence structures. The events in the Balkans have led to a complete re-evaluation of European defence and security policy, and agreement that the EU should not have to rely for American military assistance to prevent regional conflict in Europe in the future.
The humiliation of European states in failing to prevent the civil war and genocide in former Yugoslavia has prompted a major overhaul of European defence and security policy.
The Cologne Declaration signed by EU states earlier this year provides the framework for the European Security and Defence Identity. This requires European states to provide the necessary military response to crises such as those in the Balkans, for disaster relief and major search-and-rescue missions.
Until it has sufficient resources to meet these commitments, the EU will continue to rely on NATO for command and control, logistics, "strategic lift" (heavy aircraft and warships) and intelligence.
It is this EU initiative that will drive Irish defence policy from now on, say senior military sources. To meet its commitments Defence Forces sources say the Republic will need "strategic lift" aircraft such as the US-manufactured C-130 Hercules, costing around £40 million each, and "medium-lift" troop helicopters such as the Sea King, costing around £33 million each.
The Defence Forces are already imbued with a military doctrine that naturally places them alongside the military forces of the European-Atlantic powers. Virtually since their foundation, the Defence Forces followed the military doctrine of the Western, or Allied, military states.
Since the inception of NATO, the Defence Forces have sent personnel on training programmes and maintained a military doctrine that reflects NATO's. The Army's replacement rifle for its original .303 was the Belgian-manufactured 7.62mm FN. This was the standard NATO infantry rifle. The replacement for the FN, the Austrian-manufactured Steyr, fires the standard NATO infantry rifle 5.6mm ammunition. This means an Irish infantry soldier's rifle will fire the same ammunition as his British, French, American or German counterpart. This is the essence of the key NATO and PfP concept of "inter-operability".
The main reason why there has been no point, until now, in forging any military alliance has been the under-resourcing of the Defence Forces, according to military sources.
The sources now anticipate that if the State is to fulfil its commitment to a common European defence and security strategy it will have to provide for Defence Forces that can transport infantry troops to a theatre of operations, such as the Balkans, and provide full "all-arms capability" for such a force, along with both air and ground transport and logistics.
The PfP Website is http:// www.shape.nato.int/pfp.htm. The site is operated by NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).
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