Norway completes F‑35 fleet upgrade enhancing national defence
The final batch of F-35 fighters has arrived in Norway, making the country the first partner in the F-35 programme to receive all the aircraft it ordered.
– The F-35 is the world's best fighter jet and I am very pleased that we will receive the last of the 52 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin that Norway has ordered. The aircraft ensure that we can safeguard Norwegian sovereignty and maintain even better control over our areas on land, at sea and in the air, – said Tore O. Sandvik, the Norwegian Minister of Defence.
Norway with a full complement of F-35 fighters
The F-35 is a fifth-generation multirole stealth fighter. In the F-35A variant, which Norway has chosen, it features conventional take-off and landing capabilities. It can reach speeds of up to approximately 1.6 Mach (about 1,243 mph) and operate at altitudes up to 49,213 feet. It is equipped for electronic warfare and can carry several tonnes of conventional weaponry, including missiles and bombs. Typically, it is armed with a five-barrel GAU-22/A 25 mm cannon.
F-35 in an underground base
The Norwegian authorities decided to purchase the F-35 fighter jets back in 2008. The delivery of these modern aircraft enabled the replacement of the ageing F-16s. These older jets have not been scrapped and will continue to serve in NATO, with 32 Norwegian F-16s having been sold to Romania.
As the portal Militarnyj reminds us, Norway had long limited itself to bases in Ørland and Evenes. However, in 2024, after a 40-year hiatus, the forward base Bardufoss (constructed in 1938) was reactivated and adapted for F-35 fighters. Part of Norway's fleet of these aircraft has already been deployed there.
Bardufoss is a mountainous base distinguished by hangars carved into the rocks for the aircraft. According to the Norwegian authorities, it was reactivated due to the "changing security environment and the analysis of the war in Ukraine".
