RDAF Patch Royal Danish Air Force Esk 534 Hawk SAM Missile Air Defence

RDAF Patch SAM Eskadrille 534 Esk Squadron Royal Danish Air Force Hawk Surface to Air Missile 1980s Fully embroidered merrowed edge 94mm by 100mm four inches by three and eleven sixteenth inches.

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Eskadrille 534 Squadron RDAF was activated in 1962 as one of four Nike Ajax SAM Surface to Air Missile unit with Eskadrilles 531 532 and 533 following transfer of Nikes from the Danish Armys 10 LVA. Esk 534 Squadrons Nikes were based at Tune southwest of Copenhagen reporting to HQs at Avedoerelejren Copenhagen. The Squadrons launch areas were constructed above ground with three separate launch sites named
Alpha Bravo and Charlie. Nike Hercules Missiles replaced the Nike Ajax in 1971 and 534 Squadron received High Powered Acquisition Radar HIPAR units with their missile systems. As Denmark had declared itself free of nuclear weapons in peacetime all the warheads were conventional although a nuclear weapons depot existed just south of the border in Germany which would supply nuclear weapons to Danish units in the event of war. Live firing practice ASPs were carried out first at Fort Bliss in the USA then west coast of France and finally Sardinia Italy with cold weather practice in Crete.

The Squadron replaced its Nike Hercules with a Hawk SAM Battery in 1983 and moved to Karup Air Base with six launch stations under Air Defense Command West at Karup reporting to Commander Allied Air Forces Baltic Approaches COMAIRBALTAP Karup. Following the end of the Cold War the Hawk Batteries were retired and Eskadrille 534 was inactivated in 2000.

This patch dates from 1980s