Something seems to be wrong with the operating capabilities of Norway’s growing fleet of new F35 fighter jets, but no one will specify what the problem is. Norway’s State Auditor General is criticizing the government in a report to Parliament on the new jets, but the report is classified and therefore being handled as top […]
War hero granted a state funeral
December 5, 2019
UPDATED: One of Norway’s last resistance heroes from World War II will be honoured next week with a funeral to be conducted at state expense. Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen will also attend the funeral for Ragnar Leif Ulstein, who died this week at the age of 99. Ulstein was just shy of 20 when Nazi […]
Norway’s ‘Jens’ to calm NATO nerves
December 3, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS: As nervous and bickering leaders of NATO member countries gathered in London on Tuesday, their own Norwegian leader Jens Stoltenberg was using all his diplomatic and folksey skills to keep them united. Norway’s biggest dilemma, meanwhile, is over the US’ proposal that NATO view China as a threat. Stoltenberg already tried in advance […]
Spy chief waits for probe results
November 21, 2019
The embattled chief of Norway’s military intelligence agency E-tjenesten, Gen Lt Morten Haga Lunde, clearly felt compelled to utter some sort of response as questions fly over the competence of the agency and its agents. He issued a rare press release, to acknowledge a Parliamentary probe into the criticism and complaints of released spy Frode Berg. […]
Many responsible for frigate fiasco
November 8, 2019
UPDATED: The leader of Norway’s state accident investigations board stressed on Friday that its role is not to place blame on who or what caused one of the Norwegian Navy’s five frigates to crash into a fully loaded tanker last autumn. After releasing their report on the collision, however, it was clear that lots of […]
Norway drops missile defense program
October 10, 2019
Just weeks before meeting Russian officials in the northern city of Kirkenes, to celebrate how the former Soviet Union liberated Finnmark from Nazi German occupation n 1944, Norwegian government officials have made a concession to their neighbours. They won’t be going along with the US- and NATO-backed missile defense program after all. Norway was under […]
Defense chief calls for major build-up
October 9, 2019
Norwegian defense chief Haakon Bruun-Hanssen is asking for, and may well receive, an extra NOK 25 billion (USD 3 billion) over the next eight years to build up the country’s defense. He and other military experts believe Russia would want to blockade Norway in the event of a conflict, meaning Norway must be able to […]
Norwegian vessel sails to North Pole
August 21, 2019
Norway’s polar exploration heroes Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen never managed to sail all the the way to the North Pole, but a vessel from the country’s coast guard finally did on Wednesday. The ship’s captain and an Arctic researcher planted flags on the North Pole at exactly 9:32am. “It all went much faster than […]
Russia won’t let Hurtigruten sail
August 17, 2019
Russian authorities have spoiled some exclusive Arctic cruise plans for passengers on board one of the Norwegian shipping line Hurtigruten‘s newest vessels, the MS Spitsbergen. After initially seeming to welcome more cruise traffic in Russian waters, the Russians have suddenly denied the vessel entry. “We’d had a good dialogue with Russian authorities for a long […]
Russian exercises illustrate tension
August 14, 2019
Norwegian and NATO forces claim to be keeping a close eye this week on Russian military forces, which launched some of their largest military exercises yet on Wednesday. The exercises, taking place in four locations off Norway’s northwest coast, are widely viewed as a direct response to all the recent NATO, Norwegian and US military exercises […]
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