Norway’s Navy is getting an upgrade.
This past week, the Norwegian government signed a $13.5 billion deal with Britain to purchase a new fleet of high-tech warships, a move that will have long-reaching consequences for NATO, the North Atlantic and the Arctic.
It is the single biggest military purchase that Norway has ever made. Defense analysts see it as an important step by Europe to increase its military capabilities after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as President Trump’s isolationist foreign policy has scrambled traditional Western alliances.
“Europe has realized it must rearm,” said Njord Wegge, a professor at the Norwegian Defense University College in Oslo.
Under the agreement, Norway will buy from British shipbuilders at least five new frigates that are nearly 500 feet long and equipped with modern weapon systems, possibly including attack helicopters. The Norwegians and the British, both founding members of NATO, are not shy about saying who their enemy is.
“This deal will see our navies work as one, creating a combined fleet to defend NATO’s northern flank and strengthen our deterrence against Russian aggression,” Britain’s defense secretary, John Healey, said in a statement on Thursday.
Norway, which is Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer and has nearly $2 trillion in its sovereign wealth fund, is increasingly watching its northern borders, especially on the Arctic Ocean.