Norway Will Buy the Joint Strike Fighter

The Norwegian government will replace today’s F-16s with the American F-35.

In a press release, the Prime Minister’s Office has stated that the government thinks the Joint Strike Fighter is the only one of the two candidates that fully satisfies the operative capability demands the government has put in place for Norway’s future fighter aircraft.

The JSF satisfies all demands in the four threat scenarios, while the Gripen NG can only meet the demands in the international threat scenario. The JSF is considered to be better than the Gripen in all the fighter’s main tasks – Information gathering and surveillance, air to air combat, air to ground combat, and air to sea combat, Defence Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen (Labour) says.

In addition, the costs of acquiring the JSF are six billion (NOK) lower than the Gripen NG, the press release says.

It is strictly factual considerations that has led to the selection of the American aircraft.

Fighter aircraft are paramount for our ability to defend our country, and therefore the acquisition of new aircraft are an important element in the government’s long-term planning of our defence, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg says.

Both candidates have been assessed in accordance with four threat scenarios, three national and one international. The three national scenarios are about the defence of land areas, upholding sovereignty in the northern regions, and the defence of population centres amongst other things. These are the same scenarios that are our long-term plan for defence is based upon, Minister of Defence, Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, says in the press release.

The Defence Minister says that the investment will give good opportunities for Norwegian industry, and that initiatives were taken early to ensure that possibilities for Norwegian industry are in place regardless of which candidate was selected. Norway has been a partner in the American JSF-programme since its launch.

The government is saying that both aircraft have been possible candidates for our security needs and demands. Nordic security cooperation will continue to develop regardless of the acquisition of a new Norwegian fighter. The will and ability of Norway to actively partake in the build-up of this cooperation remains. This also applies to the bilateral Norwegian-Swedish security and defence-political cooperation that is continuing on the basis of the two army chiefs’ initiatives, the Minister of Defence writes.

– We have conducted an open and thorough process, and the contractors have expressed that they have seen this as a real and fair competition. I salute the way the American and Swedish governments, and the contractors Lockheed-Martin and SAAB have conducted their business in this demanding process, Strøm-Erichsen says.