The Iver Huitfeldt class will be a three-ship class of frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

s entering service with the Royal Danish Navy

Royal Danish Navy

The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters...

 in 2012 and 2013.

Background

The class is built on the experience gained from the command and support ships, and by reusing the basic hull design of the Absalon class the Royal Danish Navy

Royal Danish Navy

The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters...

 have been able to construct the Iver Huitfeldt class considerably cheaper than comparable ships. The frigates are compatible with the Danish Navy's StanFlex

StanFlex

StanFlex is a modular mission payload system used by the Kongelige Danske Marine ....

 modular mission payload system used in the Absalons, and are designed with slots for six modules.

While the Absalon class ships are primarily designed for command and support roles, with a large ro-ro deck, the planned three new Iver Huitfeldt frigates will be equipped for a fighting role, and the potential to use Tomahawk cruise missiles, a first for the Danish Navy.

Anti-air warfare

These ships share their Anti-Air Warfare suite with the Royal Netherlands Navy

Royal Netherlands Navy

The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

's De Zeven Provinciën-class

De Zeven Provinciën class frigate

The De Zeven Provinciën class frigates are highly advanced air-defence and command frigates in service with the Koninklijke Marine . This class of ships is also known as LCF...

 frigates and the German Navy

German Navy

The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...

's Sachsen-class

Sachsen class frigate

The F124 Sachsen class is Germany's latest class of highly advanced air-defense frigates. The design of the Sachsen class frigate is based on that of the F123 Brandenburg class but with enhanced stealth features intended to deceive any opponent's radar and acoustic sensors and incorporate also the...

 frigates. The sensors of this suite include the long range surveillance radar SMART-L

SMART-L

SMART-L is a naval long-range search radar from Thales Nederland, formerly Hollandse Signaalapparaten ....

 and the multi-function radar APAR

Active Phased Array Radar

APAR is a shipborne multifunction radar developed and manufactured by Thales Nederland. It is the first Active Electronically Scanned Array MFR employed on an operational warship.-Characteristics:...

. The SMART-L and APAR are highly complementary, in the sense that SMART-L is a L band

L band

L band refers to four different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum: 40 to 60 GHz , 1 to 2 GHz , 1565 nm to 1625 nm , and around 3.5 micrometres .-NATO L band:...

 radar providing very long range surveillance while APAR is an I band

I band

The I band is the range of radio frequencies from 8 GHz to 10 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between 3.75 cm and 3 cm. The I band is in the SHF range of the radio spectrum....

 radar providing precise target tracking, a highly capable horizon search capability, and missile guidance using the Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination (ICWI) technique, thus allowing guidance of 32 semi-active radar homing missiles in flight simultaneously, including 16 in the terminal guidance phase. The primary anti-air weapons are the point defence Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile and the area defence SM-2 IIIA

RIM-66 Standard

The RIM-66 Standard MR is a medium range surface-to-air missile originally developed for the United States Navy . The SM-1 was developed as a replacement for the RIM-2 Terrier and RIM-24 Tartar that were deployed in the 1950s on a variety of USN ships...

. The Mk 41 Vertical Launch System is used to house and launch these missiles. Up to 24 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile and 32 SM-2 IIIA

RIM-66 Standard

The RIM-66 Standard MR is a medium range surface-to-air missile originally developed for the United States Navy . The SM-1 was developed as a replacement for the RIM-2 Terrier and RIM-24 Tartar that were deployed in the 1950s on a variety of USN ships...

 may be carried.

List of ships

Name	Number	Type	Laied	Launched	Commissioned	Status
HDMS Iver Huitfeldt	F361	frigate	June 2008	March 2010		Testing
HDMS Peter Willemoes	F362	frigate	March 2009	December 2010
HDMS Niels Juel	F363	frigate	December 2009