Insights: Denmark’s maintenance rethink opens a Nordic industrial door

The Danish Defence’s historic shift towards outsourcing maintenance to industry appears increasingly anchored in senior leadership thinking.

As reported by Defence Nordic, a joint venture between Terma and Kongsberg was recently approved by the Danish competition authorities.

During a presentation on Thursday at the Danish-Norwegian Defence Industry Seminar, Denmark’s Director of National Armaments, Kim Jesper Jørgensen, highlighted the joint venture.

This comes as DALO has launched an RFI to examine potential maintenance arrangements for the MQ-9B SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft. Denmark procured four of the platforms in July 2025.

During a break, Jørgensen declined to comment, citing ongoing government negotiations in Denmark.

However, sources familiar with the project confirmed that Danish Defence is looking to outsource maintenance of air systems, and potentially land systems as well.

This would mark a significant shift for industry, as Denmark has historically maintained its major weapons systems and other equipment in-house.

Elsewhere in the Nordics, Norway and Finland use outsourcing extensively.

In Norway, Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services, KAMS, has long-term experience in depot-level maintenance, modifications, upgrades and phase inspections for the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s fleet of F-16 fighter aircraft.

KAMS is also expanding its scope to include other fixed-wing platforms, including the C-130 Hercules and P-8 Poseidon, the company says.

In Finland, companies such as Patria and Millog have well-established MRO units.

Millog is the Finnish Defence Forces’ chosen maintenance provider and is responsible for servicing Finnish Army and Navy defence materiel, as well as Finnish Air Force surveillance systems.

Patria’s Optime business unit covers services and solutions affecting fleet availability, including fleet maintenance, future modification projects, later-life integrations, supply chain management and training services.

As reported by Defence Nordic, the Terma-Kongsberg joint venture will focus on MRO services for military airborne platforms and associated systems, but the partners are looking well beyond Denmark.

- As industry, we want to support the Nordic defence forces to a much higher degree when it comes to service and maintenance, Terma said in March.