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27/11/2008
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Date Publication Date Publication Country Author Translator Headline
2008-11-21 20 November 08 Dagbladet Norway Kristoffer Egeberg Lars Schou Norway Will Buy the Joint Strike Fighter
2008-10-06 6 October 2008 Dagbladet Norway Tom Bakkeli and Lars Erik Schou 21 Billion NOK for the Joint Strike Fighter
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Norway Will Buy the Joint Strike Fighter
By Kristoffer Egeberg Translated By Lars Schou
20 November 08 Edited by Sarah Green
Norway - Dagbladet - Original Article (Norwegian)
The Norwegian government will replace today’s F-16s with the American F-35.
In a press release, the Prime Minister’s Office has stated that the government thinks the Joint Strike Fighter is the only one of the two candidates that fully satisfies the operative capability demands the government has put in place for Norway’s future fighter aircraft.
The JSF satisfies all demands in the four threat scenarios, while the Gripen NG can only meet the demands in the international threat scenario. The JSF is considered to be better than the Gripen in all the fighter’s main tasks Information gathering and surveillance, air to air combat, air to ground combat, and air to sea combat, Defence Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen (Labour) says.
In addition, the costs of acquiring the JSF are six billion (NOK) lower than the Gripen NG, the press release says.
It is strictly factual considerations that has led to the selection of the American aircraft.
Fighter aircraft are paramount for our ability to defend our country, and therefore the acquisition of new aircraft are an important element in the government’s long-term planning of our defence, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg says.
Both candidates have been assessed in accordance with four threat scenarios, three national and one international. The three national scenarios are about the defence of land areas, upholding sovereignty in the northern regions, and the defence of population centres amongst other things. These are the same scenarios that are our long-term plan for defence is based upon, Minister of Defence, Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, says in the press release.
The Defence Minister says that the investment will give good opportunities for Norwegian industry, and that initiatives were taken early to ensure that possibilities for Norwegian industry are in place regardless of which candidate was selected. Norway has been a partner in the American JSF-programme since its launch.
The government is saying that both aircraft have been possible candidates for our security needs and demands. Nordic security cooperation will continue to develop regardless of the acquisition of a new Norwegian fighter. The will and ability of Norway to actively partake in the build-up of this cooperation remains. This also applies to the bilateral Norwegian-Swedish security and defence-political cooperation that is continuing on the basis of the two army chiefs’ initiatives, the Minister of Defence writes.
- We have conducted an open and thorough process, and the contractors have expressed that they have seen this as a real and fair competition. I salute the way the American and Swedish governments, and the contractors Lockheed-Martin and SAAB have conducted their business in this demanding process, Strøm-Erichsen says.
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21 Billion NOK for the Joint Strike Fighter
By Tom Bakkeli and Kathrine Hammerstad
Translated By Lars Erik Schou 6 October 2008
Norway - Dagbladet - Original Article (Norwegian)
Total price of 21 billion NOK: Rejects price shock for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Today the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin rejected the claim that its aircraft Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 will be three times as expensive as planned, like the Norwegian media said this weekend.
Aftenposten wrote that the American fighter could cost 1.2 billion NOK a piece.
Out of control
VG have read internal documents that say the price would be around 21 billion NOK for 48 F-35A aircraft.
That would mean around $373 million per plane. Expenses for a global logistics and training system will be added. According to the Pentagon the costs over a 25 year period amount to about 756 million NOK per aircraft, a total of 36 billion NOK.
This amount does not include weapons and consumption of things like fuel and oil.
According to VG’s sources, Lockheed Martin is certain its price is competitive with the Swedish Gripen. Representatives for the Gripen says the costs of the JSF have exploded and are out of control.
The offer to Norway sets a standard for what the eight partners of the JSF program can expect, a source told VG.
The battle for who will get to carry on the work of the F-16 in the Royal Norwegian Airforce will probably be decided at the end of the year.
The debate around which of the two competitors are best suited has been raging all year.
Defence expert Jon Berg has warned against buying the JSF. According to Berg, it is designed primarily as an air to ground assault aircraft, and he thinks Norway should buy the Swedish Gripen.
Frankly, the JSF is not a fighter aircraft. It does not have the capability. It is an aircraft primarily for air to ground operations. Its best abilities are in completely different speeds than what is demanded from an interceptor. It has manoeuvrability only low speeds. It does not have extreme fighter abilities. It does not have Formula 1-abilities, Berg said in May.
So far there is no final price tag, but the project has a frame of 40 billion NOK.
VG Internet has previously written that the producer of the JSF, Lockheed Martin, is also a maker of nuclear and cluster weapons. This company was banned from the Norwegian government pension fund in 2005.
Therefore buying the American aircraft is also a question of ethics.
In addition, there has been a debate about the feasibility of running a competition with only two contenders. A third supplier, Eurofighter, pulled out because they felt Norway had already decided to buy American.
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