(have you seen how flexible that Danish mount is?! It should be a doddle to fit Sylvers there, as to size of Sylvers I honestly could not say)

Stanflex Mk56 is about 3m high, and already extends over the “edge” of the weapons deck. Even a Sylver A35 on a Stanflex platform (for CAMM, if it fits in A35) would be about a meter higher. Sylver A70 would rise to like two-thirds the height of the mast.
And let’s not even talk about weights… five fully loaded A70 with SCALP or A50 with Aster 30 would probably compact the decks beneath a bit :diablo:

Two Mk8 forward? Would require strengthening the B position considerably first.

Firing missiles through the side doors? I presume you mean the covers over the torpedo positions of the Absalon. Well, if we unbalance the design with about 10 tons of ablative armour plating on either side of the ship, and removal of some walls… guess it could work.

But no European city has been struck by a ballistic missile since 1945.

Technically, i have to disagree. Russia used 9K79 SRBM in both Czechnya (also Scuds, at Itum Vale) and Georgia. Other than that, it depends on whether you’d see Lampedusa as part of Europe or Africa (Scuds in 1986).

Helicopters would be good choice too. And in Djibouti there is a modern military base which would be more than sufficient for such an operation.

The “affected area” is defined by NATO as a zone of 2000 by 500 nautic miles. Far too big and spread out to be patrolled by land-based helicopters. Actually, would even be quite a large operational area for fighter jets.

This is of course why P-3 Orions are used. Five or six of them at the moment (US, Spanish, the German one just returned). More would be nice, but then again, not everyone has ’em.
In theory, the 10 French Mirage 2000s in Djibouti could also be used, but they’re mostly there to keep an eye on Sudan.

There quite simply was never much of a selection. The dedicated AT copter – outside the US Army, and, to a very limited extent the Soviet Union – is a post-Cold-War implementation.

The “AT copters” of the 80s in Europe, other than the Apache and Cobra, were all “multi-role” systems. Lynx, Gazelle, Bo-105, Hueys of various kinds in the West; Hoplite, Hip and Hind in the East.

Those countries that actually developed AT copters post-cold-war use them as much in an armed recon and general fire support role.
An AT copter by itself is next to useless in peacetime. If you can finance and support less than 20 helicopters, you’d want to actually be able to use every single one of them. The only country out of the named ones with more helos is Sweden really (Norway has more, but not for the Army).

The US has plenty of interests not to mention deployed forces in Europe.

Actually, most of those forces have rather quietly cycled through Iraq back home to CONUS.
Offhand, there are currently more US troops in Korea than in Germany (hell, there are probably more US troops in Afghanistan).

Meaning one could fit 32 ESSM in the same silos necessary to just match the capacity of a “standard” RAM outfit, launchers only without the usual reloads.

Ah well. Germany is supposedly considering a navalized IRIS-T SL. Would be yet another system in the same class (though more of a ESSM competitor).

And Jutland of course… but of course Jutland would be well-integrated with German forces.

Re conscription, I see this as a mark of democracy: when everyone (males anyway) is involved in national defence it enhances that national cohesion, sense of self worth, involvement etc.

However, Switzerland is probably the only country in the world that requires its (male) citizens to pay a tax if they can’t serve themselves – both conscript recruits and reservists. And that for about any reason – be it that they are unfit for service, or be it that they are (as reservists) living outside the country.
Sort of “give us your body – or your money”. And we’re not talking a small one-off sum as is the case in a couple more corrupt countries (*cough* Turkey *cough*), but we’re talking 3% of your salary before taxes, every year.