Conflict around possible American seizure of Greenland island only intensifies further. However, this doesn’t prevent issuing permits for selling Denmark weaponry, such as AGM-114R Hellfire II missiles and associated equipment for $45 million.

According to a published U.S. State Department permit document, Danes want to purchase up to one hundred missiles, three stationary test missiles, six M299 launchers, two MHU-191/M transport trailers, and three BRU-14 holders. This will also include logistics, support services, spare parts, technical documentation, and software.

The sale is stated to help advance American geopolitical interests and improve NATO security. This is very interesting considering the surrounding political situation around Greenland island, which supposedly needs to be surrendered for White House needs.

Worth noting here: so far most threats sound only verbally, without special practical changes in U.S. policy. Meanwhile, Denmark remains a long-time ally, so there is no need to refuse it weapons sales.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    14 hours ago

    Yeah, we’re crazy like that. Just like how we arrest the leader of one country for being a drug dealer, only 2 months after pardoning the convicted drug dealer ex-leader of another country, serving decades in prison.

  • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    There are probably ways to disable them if used against USA intentions.

    If not, stupidity is a feature of fascism and the inbreeding inherant in racial superiority ponzi schemes.

    • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      21 hours ago

      More like. It doesn’t matter. A few hell fire missiles are not making any meaningful difference in a fight between the usa and Denmark, so you might as well sell them to hedge your bets if you decide not to invade

  • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    The world’s biggest arms dealer is dealing arms?

    I’d guess the software has some kind of kill switch, but I’m not a missile engineer

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    As a Dane, I’m appalled and disgusted by my awful government continuing to financially support fascism even in the face of open hostility 🤬

    • cheesybuddha@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I guess the bright side is that’s 100 less missiles the US has… Seems like a poor tradeoff to funding their empire though

    • realitista@lemmus.org
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      1 day ago

      There is currently no European alternative to this or some other US missile systems. Though france has a program to create an alternative (MAST-F) by 2029 which I’m sure will be very popular among European weapons purchasers.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, there’s an excellent alternative:

        not wasting dozens of millions on missiles we don’t need while economic inequality grows and healthcare, education and aid (domestic as well as foreign) funding are being slashed left and right by the aforementioned awful government.

        • realitista@lemmus.org
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          1 day ago

          Um, you do realize that on multiple occasions the world’s biggest military power has threatened to attack your country, right?

          • hanrahan@piefed.social
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            21 hours ago

            They can never buy enough Hellfire missiles to stop an invasion by China, Russia or the US. They’d be better gifting them all to Ukraine.

            Similarly here in Australia with our ridicluios Submarine purchase, this is chest thumping theatrics.

            That aside, fuck Denmark and their MDGA views on immigrants. Their white Denmark policy is appalling.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 day ago

            Yes.

            I also realize that they too have these same missiles and MUCH more.

            If it comes to open conflict against the most bloated military in the history of the world, we could spend our entire GDP on weapons for a century and STILL be hopelessly outmatched.

            Especially when the arms dealers we’re enriching are those of that selfsame enemy! 🤦

            • cheesybuddha@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              The Vietnamese were very poorly equipped compared to the US Army. But they won the war.

            • realitista@lemmus.org
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              20 hours ago

              I disagree.

              NATO without USA has 5x the cold weather trained troops and 10x the cold weather equipment as USA. USA could certainly land but Denmark and its northern neighbors could pretty easily and I don’t think even with great cost make it prohibitively difficult to stay. It would end up looking like Finland’s Great Winter War IMO.

              If you don’t live and breathe cold weather fighting, it’s very easy to lose in these conditions. Your equipment gets packed with snow, the lubricant in your vehicle turns to sludge, the optics on your gun fog over, your doors freeze shut, your personnel get too cold to fight, etc.

              Even just Denmark, Finland, and Sweden could pull this off themselves, or likely just Denmark and one of those 2. The US has a long track record of losing guerrila wars and your neighbors like Finland know how to win them in conditions like what you have in Greenland.

              If you aren’t going to fight, then you might as well just hand the keys to your whole country to the USA and save the headache.

              • Arctic_monkey@leminal.space
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                17 hours ago

                How will you get them there? The US controls the ocean. I suspect they also control low earth orbit and so will be constantly watching.

              • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 day ago

                Yeah, everyone knows that Hellfire missiles are the perfect weapons for polar guerilla fighting! In fact, that’s the ONLY thing they’re good for and the US aren’t keeping any for themselves!

                I know it’s a fun fantasy to pretend that the “home field advantage” is big enough to outweigh a thousandfold discrepancy in weaponry and manpower, but that’s all it is: a fantasy that would make for a good feelgood underdog movie, but wouldn’t come true in reality. The discrepancy is just far too immense.

                If you aren’t going to fight, then you might as well just hand the keys to your whole country to the USA and save the headache

                Damn, this last bit of nonsense makes your previous blathering seem downright sensible in comparison!

                If the undisputed world champion boxers of every weight class all threatened to steal your house, would you consider giving them your house or beating them all simultaneously in a boxing match your only options?

                That’s how mismatched the militaries are and thus how idiotic it would be for Denmark to consider war the only alternative to capitulation.

                • realitista@lemmus.org
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                  1 day ago

                  You obviously haven’t been paying attention. Because you with your neighbors outnumber the USA in anything that will matter in this war.

                  And I’d love to hear how you are going to keep Greenland and do nothing to stop the USA from taking it. It sounds like quite the plan.

  • lettruthout@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    What did Michael Moore say, something like…. “Capitalists will sell you the rope to hang them with.“

  • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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    2 days ago

    This should read “Denmark will give $45M to the Greenland invasion fund”.

    Seriously, it’s like Europe wants US to humiliate it. Is this part of some master plan? Give them so much money and power that they will overload?

    • realitista@lemmus.org
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      1 day ago

      If they want missles for their aircraft there currently is no alternative. I’d rather they have the missles they need to shoot down US aircraft than any concern about the US having $50m which is a rounding error in their budget.

      • Miaou@jlai.lu
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        22 hours ago

        You think the US would let those planes take off?

        • realitista@lemmus.org
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          20 hours ago

          It’s true that the US would likely win the air war (though both sides have similar equipment, the US has much more). Of course this also depends on if the rest of NATO backs Denmark. Then you are essentially discussing a fight between the world’s #1 and #2 militaries. It will be a tough fight if the NATO countries minus USA learn to coordinate without the USA at the helm.

          But either way, Scandinavia is much better equipped to man and re-supply the ground war. In this way I think it would look a lot like Viet Nam.

          • Arctic_monkey@leminal.space
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            17 hours ago

            The US controls the ocean. They don’t need to fight a ground war. Trump’s play is very clear: “Give it to us, because you can’t stop us taking it.” So it’s weird he’d sell weapons to Denmark. Makes it look like he’s bluffing. I wonder if he’ll now very publicly stop the sale. That’d be the right move, even if he is bluffing.

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Arming your "enemy’ immediately before attacking them seems like a very stupid idea. So par for the course with this administration.

      • green_red_black@slrpnk.net
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        1 day ago

        Weapons production is private sector. And if there is anything the MIC isn’t known for it’s selling bogus weapons (after all such a thing tends to piss off clients present and possible future.)

        • Ænima@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          The US has some of the most dud-prone weapons of any military, at least they did when I was in. A lot of our bombs have multiple safety mechanisms that, if any fail, may fail to fully initiate the ordinance. They still fuck stuff up, though. A 2K bomb falling at that rate and height will still ruin someone’s day.

          Source: prior ammunition specialist with USAF

          • 0x0@infosec.pub
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            20 hours ago

            A lot of our bombs have multiple safety mechanisms that, if any fail, may fail to fully initiate the ordinance

            And thank god for that considering how many nukes the US have managed to misplace without finding them again

    • gustofwind@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Chinese stuff with hidden off switch 😱

      American stuff with hidden off switch 🤑

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      2 days ago

      DE added a bit towards the end of the article explaining that (in their opinion ofc).

      Worth noting here: so far most threats sound only verbally, without special practical changes in U.S. policy. Meanwhile, Denmark remains a long-time ally, so there is no need to refuse it weapons sales.

  • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    What an amazing propaganda headline and article. Imagine being Denmark and forking over millions to the bullies who are openly saying they will invade you. And the author thinks being able to give the US money is a somehow a win.

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      And the Hellfire missile will fired upon the invading American troops. Did you see how much damage that missile could do? It’s pretty epic!

      • rarsamx@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        Did you read that the sell includes logistics and software? Do you really think it doesn’t have a kill switch to avoid “friendly fire”?

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        It very probably won’t. Nor work against F35’s. And it’s not like the US cares about losing a few grunts for millions of dollars.

        • MountainVeil@slrpnk.net
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          1 day ago

          Hellfire is an old air-to-ground missile. It’s laser guided. Probably will work just fine against an Abrams tank.

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          And it’s not like the US cares about losing a few grunts for millions of dollars.

          Exactly the point. Likely the people that take that fire are people who come from an exceedingly poor class and have no value in our ruling parties’ eyes anyway. (Not saying I agree.)

  • SoloCritical@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Y’all are wild if you think each and every one of those can’t just be killswitched whenever the US feels it’s convenient to do so. They don’t like your target? Whoops, that’s a dud.

      • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        You are vastly over estimating the destructive power of a hellfire if you think they can obliterate a country.

        • Greddan@feddit.org
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          2 days ago

          I dunno… Denmark is pretty much just a pile of sand out in the ocean with a camping ground and a mini-golf course.

          • Greddan@feddit.org
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            18 hours ago

            I’d like to clarify that they’d stil fuck you up royalty if you ever tried to cross the ice.

              • Tja@programming.dev
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                2 days ago

                Not the article for sure, because the article mentions “up to a hundred”. But reading articles is for losers, it’s much cooler to make stuff up.

              • halferect@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                They cost between 130000-160000 each and I’m kinda just rough estimate because I don’t know the exacts of the deal

          • Tja@programming.dev
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            2 days ago

            Gee, I wonder if we could find this kind of information, maybe by interpreting letters into sounds and ideas…