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Norwegian Armed Forces Forsvaret
Service branches	Army Navy (Coast Guard) Air Force Home Guard
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	King Harald V
Minister of Defense	Grete Faremo
Chief of staff	General Harald Sunde
Manpower
Military age	18-44 years of age for male compulsory military service; 16 years of age in wartime; 17 years of age for male volunteers; 18 years of age for women
Conscription	12-month service obligation, in practice shortened to 8 to 9 months (2009)
Available for military service	1,078,181 males, age 16-49 (2008 est.), 1,046,550 females, age 16-49 (2008 est.)
Fit for military service	888,219 males, age 16-49 (2008 est.), 863,255 females, age 16-49 (2008 est.)
Reaching military age annually	31,980 males (2008 est.), 30,543 females (2008 est.)
Active personnel	26,200 [1]
Expenditures
Percent of GDP	1.9% of GDP (2005 est.)

The Norwegian Armed Forces (Norwegian: Forsvaret) numbers about 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees.^[1] According to current (as of 2009) mobilisation plans, the strength during full mobilisation is approximately 83,000 combatant personnel.^[1] Norway has mandatory military service for males (6–12 months of training) and voluntary service for females.

The Armed Forces are subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence. The Commander-in-Chief is H.M. King Harald V.

Under the Constitution, the Minister of Defence is accountable to Parliament for all activities carried out by the agencies under his/her responsibility. This means that the Ministry, as part of the executive branch of government, is responsible for supervising the activity of its subordinate agencies.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is from 2003 an integrated structure with civilian and military personnel. Subordinate to the MoD are the "Armed Forces Military Organisation" as well as the three civilian agencies: the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), the National Security Agency and the Defence Estate Agency.

The main annual national exercise is Cold Response, held yearly, with all NATO member states invited.

Organisation

The Chief of Defence(a four star general or admiral) heads the armed forces, and is the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence.

Military branches (in order of seniority):

• Norwegian Army
• Royal Norwegian Navy
• Royal Norwegian Air Force
• Home Guard

Other main structures, include:

• Special forces
• Defence Staff Norway (DEFSTNOR) in Oslo acts as the staff of the Chief of Defence. It is headed by a three star general or admiral. DEFSTNOR assigns priorities, manages resources, provides force generation and support activities. Each of the four branches of defence is headed by a two star general/admiral who are subordinate to DEFSTNOR.
• National Joint Headquarters (NJHQ) in Mount Jåttå close to Stavanger has operational control of Norwegian armed forces worldwide 24/7. It is headed by the Supreme Commander Norwegian Forces - a three star general or admiral. Subordinate to NJHQ is the Regional Headquarters North in Bodø. Located with NJHQ is NATOs Joint Warfare Centre (JWC).
• Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) at Kolsås outside Oslo is responsible for engineering, procurement, investment, supply, information and communications technology. It is also responsible for maintenance, repair and storage of material.

Structure

Joint

• 1 National Joint Headquarters in Bodø
• 12 Home Guard districts
• Tactical Mobile Land/Maritime Command
• Special forces
  • FSK (Forsvarets spesialkommando)
  • HJK (Hærens Jegerkommando) (Roughly the equivalent to the UK Special Air Service).
  • MJK (Marinejegerkommandoen) (Roughly the equivalent to the US Navy Seals or British Special Boat Service).
  • 1 Air Wing, 720Sqn.
• Joint ISTAR Unit (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance)
  • Module based ISTAR Unit
  • Norwegian Coastal Ranger Command (Kystjegerkommandoen in Norwegian)
  • Unmanned aerial vehicle capability
• Airborne Ground Surveillance (joint NATO project)
• Norwegian Home Guard - 50 000 personnel + 33 000 (reserve), rapid reaction forces, follow-on-forces, reinforcement forces and reserves.
• Capacity for information operations
• Norwegian Defence Security Service
• Flexible medical units
• NRBC protection (Nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical weapons )
• Explosive Ordnance Disposal
• Joint C2I Unit (command, control and information)
• Civil Military Coordination Unit (CIMIC)
• Deployable logistical support
• 2 mobilisation host country battalions (logistics for allied reinforcements)

Norwegian Army

• 1 mechanised infantry brigade (Brigade Nord)
• 1 mobilisation mechanised infantry brigade (Brigade 6)
• 1 mobile tactical land command (6th Division) (disbanded August 1st 2009 and partially transferred to ISTAR)
• Division/Corps units; ISTAR Unit, transport unit, fuel unit, NRBC search and cleaning unit, engineering unit, bridge unit
• Norwegian Army Special Operations Command
• Home Guard (Land)
• Border Guards
• HM the Kings Guard

Royal Norwegian Navy

• 5 Fridtjof Nansen class Aegis frigates - None fully operational as of September 2009
• 6 Skjold class fast patrol boats - - None operational as of September 2009
• 6 Ula class submarines
• Mine Warfare Capability
  • 6 (8) Oksøy class mine hunter and Alta class mine sweeper
  • Mine Clearance Command (divers); HNoMS Tyr support vessel
• Norwegian Coastal Ranger Command
• Naval Ranger Command
• Tactical Naval Command
• Logistics/Support Capacity
• Home Guard (Sea)
• Coast Guard
  • 1 Svalbard class vessel
  • 3 Barentshav class vessels
  • 3 Nordkapp class OPV
  • Leased vessels (KV Tromsø and KV Ålesund, KV Harstad, 6 ocean patrol vessels)
  • Inner coast guard (25 leased vessels)
  • Tug capacity
  • Strategic Sealift
  • Home Guard (Sea) (235 patrol and Tug vessels)

Royal Norwegian Air Force

• 72 + 2(1987) F-16 Fighting Falcon about 50-60 operational.
• 2 Air Control Centre/Recognized Air picture Production Centre/Sensor Fusion post (ARS Sørreisa and ARS Mågerø)
• Strategic Airlift / Aerial refueling (common NATO projects)
• Maritime surveillance (4 x P-3C Orion and 2 x P-3N Orion
• Electronic Warfare (2 + 1 DA-20 Jet Falcon)
• Transport 6x C-130 Hercules OUTDATED, 4x C-130J Super Hercules first received Nov. 2008.
• Air Defence Artillery (NASAMS)
• Air Wing for Special Forces (6 x Bell 412SP)
• Home Guard (Air)
• 18 Bell 412SP transport and light attack helicopters
• 6 NH-90 maritime helicopters (frigates)
• Deployable base support
• 12 Sea King search and rescue helicopters

Small arms and handguns

• AG3 - standard assault rifle, to be replaced by the HK416. (Started in 2008)
• Heckler & Koch MP5 - to be replaced by the HK416 and MP7.
• Heckler & Koch MP7
• Heckler & Koch HK416 - the new standard assault rifle.
• Heckler & Koch HK417
• Heckler & Koch G36 - Special forces only, to be replaced by the HK416
• Colt Canada C7 rifle - Special forces only, to be replaced by the HK416
• Colt Canada C8 rifle - Special forces only, to be replaced by the HK416
• Barrett M82
• Glock 17 - to be replaced by the MP7 in some areas.
• Rheinmetall MG3

• M72 LAW - Light anti-armour weapon
• Carl Gustav recoilless rifle - Anti-armour weapon
• FGM-148 Javelin - Anti-armour guided missile ^[2]

References

External links

• Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence
• Norwegian Defence Force

Norwegian Armed Forces Branches Army · Navy · Coast Guard · Air Force · Home Guard Equipment Army equipment · Navy ships · Military aircraft Organisation National Security Authority · Intelligence Service · Defence Research Establishment • Ministry of Defence Related NATO · Nordic Battlegroup · Scandinavian defence union