Norway said on Friday it would buy 54 new generation Leopard 2 tanks to replace older versions, adding that it was facing “one of the most difficult security situations since World War II”.
Planned for years, the order will allow Oslo to upgrade its fleet of 36 aging Leopard 2A4 tanks, some of which will be donated to Ukraine.
The Leopard 2A7 order with German defense manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is part of a 19.7 billion kroner ($1.96 billion) defense allocation that has been adopted by parliament.
‘Serious situation’
The exact cost of the tank has not been determined. There is an option for 18 more new Leopard 2A7s.
“We find ourselves … in one of the most difficult security situations since World War II”, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told reporters at the Rena military base.
“We have a serious situation due to the invasion of Russia (Ukraine). This is what I call the new ‘Iron Curtain'”, he said.
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Norway has been hesitating between its latest generation Leopard tank and South Korea’s K2 Black Panther.
The choice of Leopard would allow the Scandinavian country to align with its Nordic neighbors – including Sweden and Finland which are competing to join Norway in NATO – and Germany, the government said.
Norwegian delivery
The first delivery is expected in 2026 and will be carried out until 2031.
Only 36 of the 52 Leopards Norway bought from the Netherlands in 2001 are still in service.
Oslo announced in late January that it would donate some of these tanks to Ukraine, but did not specify how many or when they would be delivered.
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The head of Norway’s armed forces, Eirik Kristoffersen, has previously expressed his opposition to buying new tanks, saying he would rather spend the money on the acquisition of other weapons such as long-range missiles and shells.