Norway's Future Fighter Competition: A Norwegian View

Published: May 11, 2006
Source: www.defenseindustrydaily.com



Norway is currently facing a dilemma about which fighter they should buy, to replace their ageing fleet of F-16's. This excellent article on DID is a compilation of last months' events, from a Norwegian point of view.

A couple of months ago, it became clear Norway was thinking about pulling out of the JSF program.A Lockheed Martin JSF Manager recently threatened of fines and sanctions against Norway should they go forward with their plans to pull out. Immediately after that, the Eurofighter consortium offered their fighter. Besides the Eurofighter, neighbouring country Sweden wants to reduce their fleet of Gripen fighters to 100 JAS Gripen versions C and D, and thus offered their Gripens to Norway.

On May 8, Norway decided to continue their participation in the JSF program, but made clear that they have not yet decided which fighter they will buy.

Last couple of months we've reported on these issues several times (see Related News on the right). The article on Defense Industry Daily is an excellent compilation of these events. continue..