Government spending cuts have effectively forced Norway to abandon a competition to supply the air force with fighters. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-16 have been competing for a 20 aircraft, and 10 options, order worth NKr10.7 billion ($1.2 billion).
Plans to retire Northrop F-5s before 2004 will progress, reducing Norway's fighter fleet to 58 F-16s. These will be replaced around 2010-12.
Parliamentary approval of the ministry of defence's plans are expected by the end of June. The cuts to the defence procurement budget also ends a programme to replace Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules transports, says the ministry of defence, though it still intends to proceed with plans to order naval rotorcraft as part of the Nordic Standard Helicopter Programme.
The decision is a blow to Norwegian defence and high technology companies, which stood to benefit from large offset packages offered by the competitors.
Delaying the fighter replacement until 2010 puts the Joint Strike Fighter in the frame and aligns Norway's plans with those of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands and opens the prospect of a similar deal to one in the 1970s when the four agreed a combined order for F-16s.
Source: Flight International
