About 1,600 drafted recruits reported for duty in August as the first full group under Denmark’s new conscription system. Under the new model, announced in 2024 and implemented this year, conscripts will serve 11 months instead of four, men and women will serve on equal terms, and the number of recruits will increase to 7,500 annually by 2033 from 5,000.
Most new recruits face five months of basic training followed by six months of operational service. Conscription periods for the Royal Life Guards, the Guard Hussar Regiment, cybersecurity roles and on board the Royal Ship Dannebrog will be 12 months.
The program’s goal is to strengthen the operational capability of the armed forces and to train conscripts for more specialized tasks. All 1,600 conscripts are being distributed among 14 training sites in the Royal Danish Army, the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Danish Air Force.
“It is a common duty to stand guard over the Kingdom and contribute to the security of us all,” Chief of Defence Gen. Michael Hyldgaard said in a Danish Defence news release. “Through military service, young people get the opportunity to take responsibility and make a contribution that not only strengthens the Armed Forces, but also our entire society.”
Silas Nohr, 19, a conscript from the town of Varde in western Denmark, told the Reuters news service that he welcomed the longer service period. “Now we have 11 months, and I feel like you can really get into it, really experience it and get a lot deeper into the military,” he said.
The nation has moved to expand its armed forces amid Russian aggression and to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s expectations of NATO members. Denmark joins Nordic neighbors Sweden and Norway as one of the few countries in the world to conscript women for military service.
In the past, Danish women could volunteer for military service but were not subject to the draft. They became eligible for military conscription in July 2025. About 20% of this year’s conscripts are women.
After basic training, conscripts are ready to serve in various operational roles. These include guard duty and readiness tasks, patrol service with the Special Operations Command, drone operators in the Army, combat information operators in the Navy, and radar assistants in the Air Force.
“The extension of conscription makes it possible to use conscripts in new roles within our operational capabilities, thereby helping to increase operational capability more quickly,” Kenneth Strøm, head of the conscription program, said in the news release. “At the same time, professional soldiers can be freed up for tasks that require a higher degree of specialization.”
Volunteers have filled almost all of Denmark’s new military positions in recent years. But the needs have increased as Denmark aims for a much larger armed force.
The new program will allow Navy conscription to grow significantly. “We will go from about 200 to 600 conscripts in the Navy in the long term,” Rear Adm. Søren Kjeldsen, commander of the Royal Danish Navy, said in the release. “Conscription is our window and link to society. … All in all, it gives [us] more colleagues out there and is a significant strengthening of our combat power.”