The RDAF (Royal Danish Air Pressure) F-35s are the primary to characteristic a toned down model of their nation’s coloured roundel and nationwide flag.
The primary 4 Royal Danish Air Pressure (RDAF) F-35A plane to be based mostly on dwelling soil landed on the RDAF’s Fighter Wing Skrydstrup at 14.09LT on Sept. 14, 2023. Flying as DAF 6727-6730, the Lightning II plane (L-007/008/009/010) arrived in Denmark from Lockheed Martin Fort Price facility by way of Lajes, Azores.
At Skrydstrup airport, the place the plane might be based mostly and function beneath the Esk 727, the stealth plane have been welcomed by native authorities in addition to a big press contingent.
“As newly appointed Protection Industrial Attaché, it’s a privilege to supervise the primary plane ferry of Denmark’s new F-35 Lightning II,” mentioned His Royal Highness Brig. Gen. Prince Joachim of Denmark. “The F-35 is a large step ahead in expertise. The arrival of the F-35 supplies Denmark and the Danish Armed Forces a beacon to remodel the armed forces to fifth Era. It’s a pleasure to notice that this distinctive piece of army {hardware} additionally holds Danish industrial parts and is testimony to the shut ties between america and Denmark.”
Idag tog forsvarsminister @troelslundp imod de hearth første F-35 fly i Skrydstrup i Sønderjylland. Det er en helt særlig dag for Danmark, og det er en vigtig styrkelse af flyvevåbnet og det danske forsvar med de moderne fly ✈️🪖 #F35 #dkforsvar pic.twitter.com/4Biz4SCAcV
— Forsvarsministeriet/Danish MoD (@Forsvarsmin) September 14, 2023
The 4 plane that arrived in Denmark right this moment are the primary of 27 F-35s ordered by the RDAF.
Curiously, as we have been the primary to report, the Danish F-35s are the primary to characteristic a nationwide roundel with a toned down model of the coloured roundel and nationwide flag: the general plane are painted in FS36170 (as for all the opposite F-35s), whereas the Dannebrog, the Flag of Denmark, on the plane’s tail fin and the RDAF roundel, on the aspect of the air inlet, are in Insignia Purple FS 31136, and lightweight grey shade (as a substitute of white) FS 36375.
That is what we wrote in another article right here at The Aviationist:
In accordance with RDAF Chief of Staff in the Armed Forces Air Command Jan Dam, this selection was made based mostly partly on a need for the plane to be simply recognizable when they’re on the runway along with the F-35 from different nations, and partly to represent that the fighter jets are neither owned by the Armed Forces or the Air Pressure, however by all Danes.
“The F-35 isn’t just the Armed Forces’ or the Air Pressure’s new fighter plane. It’s all of Denmark’s fighter jets that should be sure that we are able to all sleep safely at evening. Subsequently, the F-35 should in fact be painted with Dannebrog on the tail fin and in that method present that the F-35 is the nation’s protect towards enemies,” says Colonel Jan Dam.
The usage of a paint scheme based mostly on three of the approved colors on the F-35 (six, at the moment, according to our sources) will protect the LO (Low Observability) of the jet. Moreover, the darkish pink shade within the flag and roundel is not going to make it simpler for opponents to visually detect the Lightning, the RDAF mentioned.
Noteworthy, when it offers with the colour palette of the F-35, Belgium will add a subdued pink and yellow together with their black in December, while Poland would be the first true hi-visibility with pink and white roundels.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based mostly in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and browse army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and lots of others, overlaying aviation, protection, conflict, business, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with totally different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Pressure, a non-public pilot and a graduate in Pc Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.
