Norway will buy 54 new next-generation Leopard 2 tanks, with an option on 18 more.
It is a question of replacing its tanks of the same model but of an older type, announced the Norwegian government this Friday.
Under construction for several years, this Leopard 2A7 order will renew the existing fleet of 36 aging Leopard 2A4s, some of which are to be donated to Ukraine, at war with Russia.
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The order, placed with the German defense group Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, is part of the envelope of 19.7 billion crowns (1.8 billion euros) already adopted by Parliament.
The exact price of the contract, however, has not been disclosed.
“We find ourselves (…) in one of the most difficult security situations since the Second World War” of 1939-1945, underlined Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a press conference held under the snow in the military camp of Rena.
“We have a serious situation because of the Russian invasion.
I call it a new
iron curtain
,” he said, referring to the phrase used to refer to the separation between the Soviet and Western blocs in the post-war decades.
First deliveries planned for 2026
Norway was hesitating between next-generation Leopards and South Korean-designed K2 Black Panther tanks.
This choice will align the Norwegian tank fleet with that of its Nordic neighbours, including Sweden and Finland, which hope to join Norway in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the 'Germany.
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The first deliveries should take place from 2026 and extend until 2031. Of the 52 Leopards that Norway purchased from the Netherlands in 2001, only 36 are still in service.
Oslo, the Norwegian capital, promised at the end of January to give some of them to Ukraine, without specifying the number or the date of delivery.
For his part, the chief of staff of the Norwegian army, Eirik Kristoffersen, had come out against the purchase of new tanks, saying he preferred to devote this money to the acquisition of other armaments such as missiles and long-range shells.
