Facing Russian aggression on the alliance’s eastern flank and spurred by an infusion of cash and weapons by the U.S. military, individual NATO nations are eager to contribute to collective defense of Europe, the deputy defense chiefs of the United States and Norway said May 19.
The United States and Norway have established a multi-layered defense partnership that involves not just the two countries’ militaries, but their defense and commercial industrial bases also, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said at the fourth-annual Norwegian-American Defense Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The future of NATO lies in small technologically advanced partners and allies contributing specialized military capabilities to the greater organization, Work said.
“We have started to talk with all of our NATO allies and even our NATO partners,” Work said. “They are very anxious to contribute to deterrence through the application of these new technologies. The beauty of the Third Offset is even small countries are going to make enormous differences in advances in AI (artificial intelligence) and autonomy that will benefit the entire NATO [alliance], which will strengthen deterrence.”
Øystein Bø, Norway’s deputy defense minister, said European nations should increase investment in the collective defense against Russia. The U.S. commitment of $3.4 billion under the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) should spur greater military spending by all NATO nations, he said.
“The European Reassurance Initiative is another strong signal of the U.S. commitment to Europe,” he said. “In fact, the ERI is a huge American investment in European security. This should probably be acknowledged more clearly. Now, Europe must step up to the plate. We must invest more in our own security and ensure more balanced burden-sharing across the Atlantic.”
Norway’s military is too small to support a domestic national defense industrial base, Bø said. It therefore prioritizes export potential and international partnerships when developing weapons and systems.
“Norway has no ambition of having a full-fledged national defense industry,” Bø said. “As a small nation, we have to…focus on technology areas where we have special requirements or where, for reasons of security of supply, there is a need to have domestic capabilities.”
Much of Norway’s military equipment is made in the United States by U.S. defense contractors, which means it does not need a large industrial base to build ubiquitous military items like tanks and aircraft. It has developed a domestic industry specializing in weapons and gear suited to its Arctic environment and modifying existing technologies to operate in extreme conditions.
“Given our climatic and topographic challenges, hardware designed to meet Norwegian needs may not be readily available in the international armaments marketplace,” Bø said. “Norway relies on close interaction between our armed forces, defense R&D communities and industry to develop unique solutions tailored to meet specific Norwegian challenges.”
Work offered up the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as a model international weapon development program. Norway joined the F-35 program in the system development and demonstration phase and has recently committed to purchasing 52 of the jets, its largest single military acquisition in history. Norway received its first F-35 in September 2015.
Norway is taking point on and funding development of the F-35 drag chute, which will help jets operating in Arctic climates to land and come to a stop on icy runways in winter.
Work also named the Naval Strike Missile, developed by Raytheon [RTN] and Kongsberg, as a modern over-the-horizon anti-ship weapon.
“It is an extraordinarily capable missile developed by the Norwegians, which we, the United States Navy, is taking an extremely hard look at,” Work said
Bø called for targeted investments in maritime and naval capabilities. Norway is looking to replace its aging P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, Bo said. Also up for replacement is the nation’s submarine fleet. Planned future investments include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, he said.
Norway plans to expand its cooperation with the U.S. military and industry in a variety of military technology development efforts, Bo said. Previous collaboration on establishing the P-3 fleet and Norway’s submarine capabilities are model guides for future partnerships, he said.
“There is a lot of bilateral industry-to-industry cooperation like Kongsberg and Nammo working with Raytheon and others, so there is a lot of context,” Bø said. “What we have been saying to our European friends, is that we believe we have a small but very capable industry…and it has been easier to get into the U.S. market than some of the big companies in the European market.”