Defence Command (Denmark)

The Defence Command (Danish: Værnsfælles Forsvarskommando, VFK) is the Danish joint military command and the top coordination and controlling authority of the Danish military. It is a Level I command authority, directly under the Ministry of Defence.

It consists of the Chief of Defence and three service staffs, Operations and Planning Staffs, known collectively as Forsvarsstaben (the Defence Staff), Arctic Command and the Special Operations Command.

History

Forsvarskommandoen was established on the basic of law no. 334 of June 18, 1969 about the origination of the Danish Defence; in order to reduce resources expended and make a true combined Defence command of Denmark. It was a continuation of the Danish defence re-construction of 1950, which erected Ministry of Defence, Chief of Defence, Forsvarsstaben, Hærkommandoen, Søværnskommandoen and Flyverkommandoen.

These latter commands was in 1969 combined into one and placed under the Ministry of Defence, giving the Chief of Defence full administrative and operational command of all branches of the Danish military. The staff of these former branch commands continued to exist inside FKO, but in 1982, which saw a major re-construction of FKO, they too vanished in favour of an even more branch independent organisation. The reorganization resulted in a unified command structture similar to the previous Generalkommandoen.