Norwegian Air Force

Luftforsvaret
Lineup	November 10, 1944
Country	Norway
Type	Armed forces ( air force )
Commander
Major general	Major General Tonje Skinnarland
insignia
Aircraft cockade

The Luftforsvaret , known in NATO as the Royal Norwegian Air Force , are the Norwegian Air Force and a part of the Norwegian Armed Forces . The Norwegian Air Force has around 2,000 active soldiers.

Due to the enormous offshore sea area and the inaccessible mountain and fjord regions in Norway, one of the main tasks of the air force is patrol activity , which can hardly be guaranteed by other forces. During the Cold War , various bases were regularly occupied by NATO fighter planes in order to guarantee a possible defense against the Soviet Union bordering the northeast of the country . After the withdrawal of the US Iceland Defense Force from Iceland in 2006, there are signs of greater commitment by the Norwegian air force in maintaining Iceland's defense capability (see also the military situation in Iceland ).

history

Norway's first military flight took place in 1912. As a result, most of the Norwegian military aircraft, mostly local types or licensed aircraft, were purchased from Hærens Flyvevaaben (Army Aviation ) and Marinens Flyvevaaben (Naval Aviation).

When the political situation deteriorated noticeably at the end of the 1930s, the two branches of the armed forces were equipped with German, British and American-made machines. In the course of the occupation of Norway by the German Wehrmacht , some machines and personnel were evacuated to the United Kingdom and integrated into the Royal Air Force . There were also purely Norwegian squadrons, which were given the numbers 330 to 334. These squadrons are the forerunners of the squadrons that are still active today under the same name.

After the Second World War , these units and their machines of the type Supermarine Spitfire formed the basis of the Norwegian post-war air force, which had already been set up as Luftforsvaret during the war in November 1944 . The Spitfire was flown into the 1950s, with De Havilland DH.100 Vampire aircraft being used as the first jet-powered model in parallel from 1947. In the years after the war, Douglas DC-3 and Douglas C-54 Skymaster were used for air transport . The former were used until 1974.

A Norwegian F-5 (1969)

After the establishment of NATO and the beginning of the Cold War - Norway was the only NATO member besides Turkey with a land border with the Soviet Union - the Luftforsvaret was enlarged and further modernized. Over the years F-84F and F-84G Thunderstreak or Thunderflash and Lockheed F-104 Starfighters were flown as fighters and fighter-bombers and as reconnaissance aircraft. The F-5A / B Freedom Fighter, which is still used today in small numbers for test purposes, also comes from this era. The C-119 Flying Boxcar transporters, which had been flown in the meantime, were later replaced by Lockheed C-130 H Hercules , and Lockheed P-3 Orion maritime patrols were added . Both are still in service today in a newer version.

As early as 1980, the General Dynamics F-16 in versions A / B was put into service. Norway was among the first European users of this type, along with the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. The number of active machines, a total of 74 were procured, but was reduced to 56 after the end of the Cold War, all of which have been modernized in the meantime. The Lockheed Martin F-35 is planned as the successor model ; The country is involved in their development and wants to have 28 machines in service by 2020 and all 52 ordered units by 2024.

During the first combat mission of NATO, Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999, Norwegian machines were also used. In the first decade of the new millennium, Norwegian machines took part in missions in Afghanistan .

equipment

The Luftforsvaret's equipment consists of six types of aircraft, three types of helicopters and several air defense systems.

As part of the Strategic Airlift Capability Program, Norway and the other participating countries also operate three C-17 Globemaster IIIs that can be used for strategic military air transport.

It is planned to replace the F-16 fleet with 46 (plus 6) Lockheed Martin F-35s , the Sea Kings with 16 (plus 6 options) AgustaWestland AW101 and the P-3 and DA-20 with five Boeing P-8s .

Aircraft	photo	origin	use	version	Number (as of 2010)	Remarks
Warplanes
Lockheed Martin F-35		United States	Multipurpose fighter aircraft	F-35A	1	Delivery of 28 machines by 2020, 34 more by 2024; the first machine was delivered in the late summer of 2015, but will remain in the United States for training
General Dynamics F-16		Netherlands / United States	Multipurpose fighter aircraft	F-16AM	47	72 units (F-16A / B) were built under license by Fokker and received a mid-life update. Norway has chosen the Lockheed Martin F-35 as its successor .
Transport aircraft
C-130J Hercules		United States	transport	C-130J-30	3	4 machines delivered between November 2008 and June 2010 to replace 6 C-130E / H. A machine flew into a mountain in Sweden in 2012 .
Dassault Falcon 20th		France	VIP transportation	20C-5	1
Reconnaissance aircraft
Dassault Falcon 20th		France	electronic warfare	20ECM	2
P-3C-III / N Orion		United States	Submarine hunting and reconnaissance aircraft	P-3C UIP P-3N	4 2
Trainer aircraft
Saab Safari		Sweden	Basic training	safari	16
General Dynamics F-16		Netherlands / United States	Combat training	F-16BM	10	Manufactured under license by Fokker (+2 F-16B-15OCU from General Dynamics). All received a mid-life update.
helicopter
Bell 412		United States	Transport helicopter	412SP	18th	Final assembly at Helikopter Service in Norway
NHI NH90		European Union	Transport helicopter	NH-90 NFH	6th	A total of 14 ordered and 10 more as options. The first NH90 was presented at a ceremony in Italy in November 2011.
Westland Lynx		United Kingdom	Naval helicopter	Lynx Mk.86	2	In use by the Coast Guard , will be replaced by NH90.
Westland Sea King		United Kingdom	SAR helicopter	Sea King Mk.43	12	Owned by the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the Ministry of Justice and Police (Norway). The main task is Search and Rescue .

Air defense

Six missile batteries NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) based on the AIM-120 AMRAAM are available for air defense . The Luftforsvaret also has numerous guns for air defense . This includes, for example, the robot system 70 .

Air bases

Bodø hovedflystasjon combat aircraft base Ørland hovedflystasjon combat aircraft base Andøya flystasjon Bardufoss flystasjon Gardermoen flystasjon Airport Oslo Rygge flystasjon Sola flystasjon Lakselv Lufthavn, Banak Evenes flystasjon Kristiansand Lufthavn Værnes garrison

Flyvevåbnet main bases in Norway,   other military (shared) airfields   no permanent stationing

The two most important military airfields (Hovedflystasjoner) are in Bodø and Ørland in the middle of the country, the ICAO airport codes in brackets (only the flying associations are listed):

• Bodø hovedflystasjon (ENBO), Nordland province , 132nd Luftving with the 331st and 332nd Skvadron , main base for combat aircraft, next to it a Detachment SAR helicopter of the 330th Skvadron from Sola, with the decommissioning of the F-16, the military flight operations are to be excepted the SAR helicopters will be discontinued by 2024 at the latest
• Ørland hovedflystasjon (ENOL), Trøndelag province , 138th Luftving with the 338th Skvadron , main base for combat aircraft, next to it a Detachment SAR helicopter of the 330th Skvadron from Sola, in future the only station of the F-35

Other active flight stations ( Flystasjoner ) are spread across the country from north to south. Among other things, the railways of the two airports near Oslo are used together with civil air traffic:

• Andøya flystasjon (ENAN), Nordland province, 133rd Luftving with the 333rd Skvadron , currently still the base of the P-3 maritime patrol aircraft
• Bardufoss flystasjon (ENDU), Province of Troms , 139th Luftving with the 334 , 337 and 339th Skvadron , base of coast guard and transport helicopters, plus drones for the 718th Skvadron
• Gardermoen flystasjon (ENGM), Akershus province , 135th Luftving with the 335th Skvadron , base of the transport aircraft
• Rygge flystasjon (ENRY), Østfold province , 137th Luftving with the 717th (Falcons for electronic warfare) and 720th Skvadron (transport helicopter), next to it a Detachment SAR helicopter of the 330th Skvadron from Sola
• Sola flystasjon (ENZV), Rogaland province , 134th Luftving with the 330th Skvadron , base of SAR helicopters

In addition, another airfield is used militarily in the far north of the country, on which no airborne units are permanently stationed:

• Stasjonsgruppe Banak (ENNA), Finnmark province , 2 SAR helicopters detached from the 330th Skvadron from Sola

The airports in Evenes (Harstad / Narvik) , Kristiansand Kjevik and Værnes are no longer regularly used for military purposes, but In the future Evenes will serve as a forward base for the F-35 and the planned new P-8A maritime patrol aircraft will also be stationed here.

Web links

Commons : Luftforsvaret  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Beth Stevenson: Norway reconfirms plans to acquire 52 F-35s. In: Flightglobal.com. October 5, 2015, accessed on October 9, 2015 (English): "Of the 52 required, 28 will be operational by 2020 and the other 34 by 2024 - the first F-35A for Norway, which will be based in the USA for training, which was unveiled on September 23rd. " 
2. ^ "World Air Forces 2013". Archived from the original on November 2, 2013 ; accessed on March 25, 2020 .  , Flightglobal.com, December 11, 2012.
3. ^ Forsvarsnett: The Royal Norwegian Air Force . Archived from the original on March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
4. ↑ http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/norway-f-idINL6N0DD1HP20130426
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Equipment Facts - Air. In: Mil.no. Norwegian Armed Forces, archived from the original on November 4, 2014 ; accessed on March 5, 2015 . 
6. ^ Forsvarsnett: 333 Skvadron ( Memento from June 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Forsvarsnett: The “neversleeping eye” in the north ( Memento from July 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Forsvarsnett: Saab Safari ( Memento from February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Norwegian military aviation Orbat
9. ↑ Norway Takes Delivery of Its First NH90