Norwegian Armed Forces

History

An organised military was first assembled in Norway in the 9th century and its early focus was naval warfare. The army was created in 1628 as part of Denmark–Norway, followed by two centuries of regular wars. A Norwegian military was established in 1814, but the military did not see combat until the German occupation of Norway in 1940. Norway abandoned its position as a neutral country in 1949 to become a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Cold War saw a large build-up of air stations and military bases, especially in Northern Norway. Since the 2000s, the military has transformed from a focus on defence from an invasion to a mobile force for international missions.

Norway had its combat units withdraw from the War in Afghanistan in 2021. During the war, Norwegian combat forces had been on loan to ISAF, and later on loan to Resolute Support Mission.

Organisation

The formal commander-in-chief is King Haakon VIII; however, the de facto supreme decision-making is made by the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. The Chief of Defence (a four-star general or admiral) is the professional head and leader of the armed forces, and is the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence. The Chief of Defence and his staff is located at Akershus Fortress in Oslo, while the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, responsible for commanding operations, is located in Bodø. The main naval base is Haakonsvern in Bergen Municipality, the main army camps are located at Setermoen in Bardu Municipality, Bardufoss in Målselv Municipality, and Rena in Åmot Municipality. The main air station is Ørland Main Air Station in Ørland Municipality.

Military branches (in order of seniority):

Norwegian Army

Royal Norwegian Navy

Royal Norwegian Air Force

Home Guard

Norwegian Cyber Defence Force

Norwegian Special Operation Forces (NORSOF)

Other main structures include:

Defence Staff Norway (DEFSTNOR) in Oslo acts as the staff of the Chief of Defence. It is headed by a three-star general or admiral. DEFSTNOR assigns priorities, manages resources, provides force generation and support activities. Each of the four branches of defence is headed by a two-star general/admiral who are subordinate to DEFSTNOR.

Norwegian Joint Headquarters (NJHQ) located at Reitan, close to Bodø has operational control of Norwegian armed forces worldwide 24/7. It is headed by the Supreme Commander Norwegian Forces – a three-star general or admiral.

Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) at Kolsås in Bærum Municipality (just outside Oslo) is responsible for engineering, procurement, investment, supply, information and communications technology. It is also responsible for the maintenance, repair and storage of materials.

Conscription

Conscription was constitutionally established on 12 April 1907 with Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov § 119. In earlier times, up until at least the early 2000s, all men aged 19–44 were subject to mandatory service, with good reasons required to avoid becoming drafted. Norway currently employs a weak form of mandatory military service for men and women. For example, in 2010, while 62,873 men and women were called to be examined as persons eligible for military service (the examination being mandatory for men), only 9,631 were actually conscripted. In practice, not all recruits deemed eligible for conscription are forced to serve, with only those who are judged the most motivated actually being selected.

Since 1985, women have been able to enlist for voluntary service as regular recruits. On 14 June 2013, the Norwegian Parliament voted to extend conscription to women. In 2015 conscription was extended to women making Norway the first NATO member and first European country to make national service compulsory for both men and women. In 2020, women made up one-third of new conscripts.

There is a right of conscientious objection.

Students of professional subjects (doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, dentists, etc.) may serve their conscription after completing a six weeks course, receiving lieutenant ranking when they begin their service. This arrangement is called Conscript Academic Officer (Norwegian: Vernepliktige akademikere (VA)).

In 2020, the media said that "several soldiers said that they were informed about additional four months of service; the information was given after military service had started".

Structure

Joint

Norwegian Joint Headquarters in Bodø

Norwegian Intelligence Service

Tactical Mobile Land/Maritime Command

Joint ISTAR Unit (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance)

Module based ISTAR Unit

Norwegian Coastal Ranger Command (Kystjegerkommandoen in Norwegian)

Unmanned aerial vehicle capability

Airborne Ground Surveillance (joint NATO project)

Norwegian Home Guard – 12 districts with 40,500 personnel, rapid reaction forces, follow-on-forces, reinforcement forces and reserves.

Capacity for information operations

Norwegian Defence Security Department (NORDSD)

Flexible medical units

NRBC protection (Nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical weapons)

Explosive Ordnance Disposal

Joint C2I Unit (command, control and information)

Civil Military Coordination Unit (CIMIC)

Deployable logistical support

2 mobilisation host country battalions (logistics for allied reinforcements)

Norwegian Army

From 1 August 2023 the Norwegian Army has this structure:

Brigade Nord (operational units)

Armoured Battalion (Norwegian: Panserbataljonen, 1.Bn), in Setermoen with Leopard 2A4NO main battle tanks and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles

2nd Battalion (Norwegian: 2. bataljon), mechanized infantry in Skjold with Bandvagn 206 vehicles

Telemark Battalion (Norwegian: Telemark bataljon), in Rena with Leopard 2A4NO main battle tanks and CV90 infantry fighting vehicles

Artillery Battalion (Norwegian: Artilleribataljonen), in Setermoen with K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers

Combat Engineer Battalion (Norwegian: Ingeniørbataljonen), in Skjold

Signals Battalion (Norwegian: Sambandsbataljonen), in Bardufoss

Medical Battalion (Norwegian: Sanitetsbataljonen), in Setermoen

Combat Service Support Battalion (Norwegian: Stridstrenbataljonen), in Bardufoss

Military Police Company (Norwegian: Militærpolitikompaniet), in Bardufoss

Finnmarksbrigaden

Porsanger Battalion

Ranger Battalion GSV

Finnmark heimevernsdistrikt 17 - part of Norwegian Home Guard

Army Land Warfare Centre

Royal Norwegian Navy

4 Fridtjof Nansen-class Aegis frigates

6 Skjold-class fast missile boats.

6 Ula-class submarines

Mine Warfare Capability

6 (8) Oksøy-class mine hunters and Alta-class minesweepers

Norwegian Coastal Ranger Command

Tactical Boat Squadron (CB90-class fast assault craft)

Norwegian Naval EOD Command (divers)

Fleet Logistics Command

Supply ship Maud

Royal yacht Norge

Magnus Lagabøte

Olav Trygvasson

Coast Guard

1 Svalbard-class vessel

3 Barentshav class vessels

3 Nordkapp-class offshore patrol vessel

Leased vessels (NoCGV Tromsø and KV Ålesund, KV Harstad, 6 ocean patrol vessels)

Inner coast guard (25 leased vessels)

Tug capacity

Royal Norwegian Air Force

49 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II (52 ordered)

74 General dynamics F16A/B and AM/AB 30 jets still active soon to be retired

2 Air Control Centre/Recognized Air picture Production Centre/Sensor Fusion post (ARS Sørreisa and ARS Mågerø)

Strategic Airlift / Aerial refueling (common NATO projects)

Maritime surveillance 5 P-8 Poseidon.)

Transport 5x C-130J Super Hercules

Air Defence (NASAMS 3)

Air Wing for Special Forces (6 x Bell 412)

18+ Bell 412 transport helicopters

Deployable base support

16 AW101 search and rescue helicopter (replaced 12 Sea King helicopters)

Norwegian Home Guard

Home Guard

Norwegian Cyber Defence Force

Norwegian Cyber Defence Force

Norwegian Special Forces

The Norwegian Special Operations Command (NORSOCOM) (Forsvarets Spesialstyrker (FS), was formed on 1 January 2014 by bringing the Special Operations Command (FSK), The army's special warfare unit, and the Naval Special Operations Command (MJK), The navy's special warfare unit, together under a unified command.

NORSOCOM (Forsvarets Spesialstyrker (FS)), Akershus Fortress, Oslo

Chief of NORSOCOM, a two-star officer, member of the Commander of the Armed Forces's management group

Taktisk Kommando (TAKOM) - special forces-specific command element embedded with the Norwegian Joint Headquarters (FOH)) outside Bodø.

Special Operations Commando (Norwegian: Forsvarets Spesialkommando) (FSK), at Rena Army Camp, part of Østerdal Garrison

FSK Staff

unknown number of combat squadrons

Paratrooper Platoon - platoon consisting of conscripts highly trained for raid and airborne ISTAR operations.

Ranger Platoon - special reconnaissance training unit made up of female conscripts

Initial and Operational Special Forces Training Base on the tiny islet of Vealøs facing the former Karljohansvern Naval Base in Horten Municipality

Naval Special Operations Commando (Norwegian: Marinejegerkommandoen) (MJK), at Jaeger's Bight in Haakonsvern Naval Base, near Bergen. A research paper of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment puts the force structure of the MJK at a staff and six combat squadrons

MJK Staff

Norwegian Defence University College

The Norwegian Defence University College (NDUC) (Norwegian: Forsvarets høgskole) is the institution in charge of officer and NCO training, re-qualification and military studies. The officer schools of the separate armed services are departments under NDUC and thus independent from their respective services. The central administration of the NDUC is located at the historic Akershus Fortress in the city center of Oslo.

Chief of the NDUC

The NDUC is headed by the Chief of the NDUC (sjef FHS, also referred to as rektor), a two-star rank.

Leading Group

The Chief of the NDUC is assisted by the Leading Group (or the Leader's Group, Ledergruppen), composed of the NDUC's Chief of Staff (stabssjef), the officer in charge of academic work (dekan), the chiefs of the Military Academy (Krigsskolen, the army officer school), the Air Force Academy (Luftkrigsskolen, the air force officer school) and the Naval Academy (Sjøkrigsskolen, the naval officer school), the Chief of the Cyber Engineer Academy (Cyberingeniørskolen, the recently established Cyber Defence branch's officer school), the Chief of the NCO School (Befalsskolen, joint for the armed forces), the directors of the two institutes for military studies and the NDUC's Command Sergeant Major (sjefssersjant).

Managing Board

The Managing Board of the NDUC (Høgskolestyret) is the governing body and it includes the Chief of the NDUC, The chiefs of the Army (Hæren), Navy (Sjøforsvaret) and the Air Force (Luftforsvaret), three members of the board (tre ansattrepresentanter), one external (audit) member of the board (ekstern representant) and one student (cadet or civilian) member of the board (studentrepresentant).

NDUC HS Administration

The NDUC Administration is composed of two staffs (administrative staff (Driftsstab) and academic work staff (Fagstab).

The following departments form the AFHS:

Small arms and handguns

Heckler & Koch MP5 – replaced by the MP7 in most positions, used by parts of the Home Guard

Heckler & Koch MP7 – standard issue SMG

Heckler & Koch HK416 – standard assault rifle

Heckler & Koch HK417 – designated marksman rifle

Colt Canada C8SFW – special forces only

Barrett M82

Barrett MRAD

Glock 17 – standard issue pistol, replaced by the MP7 in some positions

Heckler & Koch USP – in use with special forces

Rheinmetall MG3 – partly replaced by FN Minimi and Minimi 7,62 Mk3 as crew weapon

FN Minimi

Minimi 7,62 Mk3

M2 Browning

M72 LAW – light anti-armour weapon

Carl Gustav recoilless rifle – anti-armour weapon

FGM-148 Javelin – anti-armour guided missile

M320 Grenade Launcher Module