Denmark Procures Rheinmetall MASS Decoy Launchers for Frigates
The multi-million-euro contract equips Absalon and Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates with advanced multispectral soft-kill protection systems.
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The Danish Armed Forces have officially signed a contract in Copenhagen commissioning Rheinmetall to supply its Multi Ammunition Softkill System (MASS). The procurement covers MASS decoy launchers for Denmark's Absalon-class and Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates, as well as the Royal Danish Navy’s Weapons School, alongside a quantity of Omnitrap-ER decoys. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2027.
The contract value, which will be recognized in the second quarter of 2026, represents a two-digit million figure in euros. Additionally, the agreement includes a long-term supply contract spanning up to 21 years to ensure the Danish Navy can continuously replenish its decoy ammunition inventory.
Establishing a Scandinavian Naval Standard
With Denmark becoming the 18th nation to adopt this technology, MASS now serves as the standard soft-kill system across all Scandinavian navies, with over 400 launchers operating worldwide. Hauke H. Bindzus, CEO of Rheinmetall’s Business Unit Protection Systems, highlighted the vital role of the Danish Navy in NATO’s maritime defense across the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Arctic environments.
The modular MASS system can be deployed on vessels of any size—from offshore patrol vessels to frigates—operating as a stand-alone unit or integrated seamlessly into existing command and weapon control systems. It protects naval assets in blue water, shallow water, and riverine operations against anti-ship missiles and laser-guided weapons by deploying multispectral decoys covering radar, ultraviolet, electro-optical, laser, and infrared wavelength bands.
Additional Context
This section provides technological and market background not explicitly detailed in the original release.
Modern naval warfare has seen a proliferation of sophisticated anti-ship missile threats equipped with multi-mode seekers that combine active radar homing with infrared imaging and electro-optical tracking. Relying solely on hard-kill interception (such as surface-to-air missiles or close-in weapon systems) can exhaust a ship's limited magazine capacity during saturated salvos. Soft-kill solutions like MASS deploy programmable ammunition payloads that create realistic, multi-spectral phantom signatures and screening clouds in the immediate airspace. By seducing or disorienting incoming guided threats across all electromagnetic spectrums simultaneously, soft-kill countermeasures provide a critical layer of defense that preserves physical munitions and shields high-value surface combatants.
Edited by Lekshman Ramdas, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.
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