Denmark’s government said Thursday it would invest an additional 38 billion kroner ($5.6 billion) into the country’s defense over 10 years to address “accumulated challenges” following the war in Ukraine.
“Approximately 27 billion kroner will go to defense materiel, buildings, IT and personnel to handle accumulated challenges… and another 11 billion kroner will be invested in the personnel and materiel area,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
It added that “global security policy and economic developments have meant that it requires more resources to run the current defense.”
“For many years, the security policy situation has taken its toll on the Danish defense,” acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in the statement.
He said politicians had in the past made decisions “based on assumptions that have proven to be incorrect,” referring to years of downgrading the priority of Danish defense.
“This means that we now face a major task of restoring the foundations of the defense before we build on them in the upcoming settlement,” Poulsen said.
Like other European countries, Denmark was prompted to up its defense spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In September 2022, a budget review of Denmark’s defense showed that several areas had been neglected and required additional funds just to restore the capabilities of the armed forces.
Among other things, the review highlighted that equipment had greater wear-and-tear than expected, a backlog in managing the military’s properties, and challenges in the recruitment and retention of staff.
The Danish government has previously indicated that it plans to raise the defense budget to NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP by 2030.