Norway and Great Britain have been cooperating and mounting joint military exercises for years, but now they’re bringing their defense and especially naval forces even closer together. Both sides called a new defense agreement that was signed in London on Thursday “historic,” with tight integration of naval operations, drone projects and overall preparedness in troubled times.
The already-strong ties between the Norwegian and British naval forces were marked during a medal ceremony on board the Norwegian frigate KNM Roald Amundsen when their joint exercise Operation Highmast recently ended in Portsmouth. The ceremony recognized the close integration of Norwegian and British personnel after eight months at sea together. PHOTO: Henrik S Andersen/Forsvaret
“The goal is that Norway and Great Britain will work together even more closely, to strengthen NATO’s northern flank and presence in the North Atlantic,” said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street on Thursday. Their defense ministers signed the deal that’s been called Lunna House, after the house in Shetland that was used by Norwegian resistance forces during World War II.
Støre claimed the new agreement offers greater security for both Norway and Great Britain “along with our allies in uneasy times.” His British host agreed, adding that the “historic agreement” will help both Britain and Norway “protect our borders and critical infrastructure.”
Norwegian Defense Minister Tore O Sandvik signed the new defense cooperation pact with his British counterpart John Healey in London on Thursday. PHOTO: Brage Berglund/Forsvarsdepartementet
Norwegian Defense Minister Tore O Sandvik stressed how the two countries already share strong ties and security interests. Norway recently opted to buy its new frigates from the British, so that they’ll be able to be operated by both Norwegian and British crews. The two countries also just completed eight months of naval exercises at sea together that took them half-way around the world, with a Norwegian frigate visiting Japan for the first time ever.
“We have close defense cooperation that stretches from the Second World War to today,” Sandvik said. “With the new agreement we’re boosting our cooperation further within all defense domains, from the bottom of the sea to outer space.”
That was a reference to how the British and Norwegians will work together on everything from drones and cyber technology to maritime defense, ammunition production, naval exercises and rapid response to threats. British troops will play a bigger role in the defense of Norway and both sides are discussing possibilities of stationing British defense material and ammunition on Norwegian soil. They’ll also evaluate the need to set up facilities in Norway to receive British military troops in the case of emergencies, not unlike defense agreements Norway has long had with US forces that have troops and equipment on Norwegian bases.
Norway and Great Britain have a long history of defense exercises at sea but that’s likely to increase now, to strengthen defense in the North Atlantic and the Arctic at a time when Russian naval forces are frequently in the area. They’re also working with Ukraine to develop expertise in drone operations in the far north.
“Russian military activity has increased in both the North Atlantic and the Barents Sea,” Sandvik said. “We’re following it and tracking their movements with Great Britain. We know that Russia has capacity to pose a strategic threat to western infrastructure on the seafloor. Therefore we will continue to develop our surveillance capacity in the north.” That, he noted, will include anti-submarine operations.
“We’ll be tying the Norwegian and British navies together tighter than ever,” he added. “The goal is to develop a combined Norwegian-British frigate fleet that can operate seamlessly together, and through which we can share our vessels, crews and technology. We’ll be sailing and operating even more together in our northern areas.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
