The Norwegian commander wants a “Nordic Air Operations Center” if Sweden, Finland joins NATO
WASHINGTON: Norway’s top air force officer wants NATO to consider giving the green light for a new “Nordic Air Operations Center” to control air missions in the region, should Sweden and Finland eventually be approved as new members of the Transatlantic Alliance.
Major General Rolf Folland, head of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, told Breaking Defense that he has already begun to consider opportunities for better integration with Sweden and the Finnish Air Force, with the air operations center which he plans to “explore with my foreign colleagues the most.”
Adding the Swedish and Finnish air forces to NATO more than doubles the number of fourth and fifth generation fighter jets currently planned to be deployed by the Nordic members of NATO. Last year, Finland announced plans to buy 64 F-35s to replace its aging Hornet fleet, and Sweden is in the process of buying at least 60 Gripen E / Fs.
At the same time, of the Nordic countries with NATO membership, Norway plans to set up a combat force of 52 F-35s by 2025, and Denmark will replace its F-16s with 27 F-35s. (Iceland, which does not have an air force, receives aviation police support from NATO members.)
“If we can plan to use this force in a holistic, common, combined way” under Allied Air Command based on Ramstein Air Base in Germany “I think this would be an advantage for us, and it could be an advantage for NATO, said Follard.
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While Follard did not go into detail about how a Nordic air operations center would fit into NATO’s existing command and control structure, NATO’s Allied Air Command headquarters in Ramstein already oversees a number of subordinate units elsewhere in Europe. That list currently includes the two Combined Air Operations Centers in Uedem, Germany and Torrejón, Spain, as well as the deployable Air Command and Control Center in Poggio Renatico, Italy.
On 5 July, ambassadors for the current NATO countries signed an “accession protocol” stating their support for Sweden and Finland’s membership in the alliance. These protocols must now be ratified by each member’s legislature in order for the process to proceed. On 7 July, eight of the 30 NATO countries – Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Albania, Poland – had already approved the new members:
If Sweden and Finland are allowed to join NATO, the alliance members will control the entire Scandinavian peninsula – a unique landmass is connected to the rest of Europe by Russia, with the sparsely populated countries Norway, Sweden and Finland stretching from north to south.
At present, all Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish air forces practice together regularly through events such as the two-year Arctic Challenge, and share cross-border training agreements that allow nations to circumvent the need for long diplomatic permits for training events, Follard said.
“The only problem is that we could not fully integrate,” he said. “We could not plan together because we knew we had no guarantee that we would actually fight together. They could stay neutral. [in a conflict involving the alliance]. ”
NATO membership for Finland and Sweden could erase these barriers, enabling the three nations’ air forces to share radar and sensor data collected by military planes that cannot currently be exchanged between the countries, he said. Another great opportunity is the ability to carry out battle planning together.
“We may find out that we have to have different roles – Finland is close to Russia [border], [and] we would be at the forefront of the Atlantic’s frontiers of duty, ”he said.
Follard’s comments reflect General Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s Chief of Defense, who told Breaking Defense in May that Norway should consider alternative ways to base its forces once Finland and Sweden have been approved to join NATO.
Historically, Norway has built its bases to receive NATO forces that would flock to the country’s military installations in the event of a war. But if Sweden and Finland are integrated into NATO, the alliance will be able to conduct military planning for the defense of that region differently, Kristoffersen said.
“During the Cold War, we built all these reception areas, allied areas,” he said. “Now you can bring Finland and Sweden, which gives us even more terrain, more seats and more airports and more ports.”
Follard agreed that a NATO ally Sweden and Finland could offer additional installations to which NATO could allocate forces during a crisis and could provide additional opportunities to stage critical maintenance and repair supplies so that aircraft could be fixed quickly during combat.
“With the long-range precision missiles and missile technology that Russia is developing, it is a bit naive to think that [relying on Norway’s airbases] will suffice, he said.