The original was taken from a colleague of andrej_kraft in Russia : The commander-in-chief recommends that the Norwegian government not buy new tanksIn continuation of the topic:
On November 24, immediately after the end of the final consultations with the manufacturers, an article "Forsvarssjefen slipper politisk bombe" ("Commander-in-Chief throws a political bomb") was published out of the blue in the [Norwegian] edition of Dagens Næringsliv from an interview with [Commander-in-Chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces] General Eirik Kristoffersen, in which he confessed to the correspondent of Sverre Strandhagen that he recommended to the Minister of Defense of [Norway] to refuse to purchase new tanks.
Commander-in-Chief [of the Norwegian Armed Forces] Eirik Kristoffersen created a dramatic situation in the armed forces © Foto: Øyvind ElvsborgThe article is paid, but it has already been retold by everyone who does not mind 499 Norwegian kroner per month.
First of all, it should be recalled that after much bickering, the "9360 Project - the Tank potential of the army" (Prosjekt 9360 - Stridsvognkapasitet til Hæren) was still approved in 2020 during the premiership of the "Iron" Erna Sulberg, and the new Cabinet of Ministers of Jonas Stere chose this program as a separate point of its Hurdalsplattformen government platform for 2021-2025 years . According to current plans, the contract is worth 19.3 billion rubles. Norwegian kroner ($ 2 billion) for the supply of 82 new tanks to replace the outdated Leopard 2A4NO MBT should be signed by the end of the year. Leopard 2A7 from Germany and K2 Black Panther from South Korea are participating in the competition.
And after all these ordeals, trouble came from where they did not expect. Kristoffersen's main message is that such a purchase now means unreasonably high defense costs, and the army needs mobility and firepower much more. In general, instead of tanks, we urgently need to buy new helicopters and high-precision long-range weapons.
In response to the general's affront, the Defense Minister stingily replied that the program continues in strict accordance with the previously announced plan, and in the future the government will hold a dialogue with the head of Defense about his estimates related to procurement.
One of those who has long opposed public investment in tanks is Sverre Dizen - now one of the researchers of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense FFI (Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt), and in the past, the former commander-in-chief himself. In 2020-2021, he participated in an interesting controversy on the pages of the Norwegian media, but we will talk about it some other time. In short, Diesen was one of the developers of the "threshold study" ( terskelstudien ) and the main locomotive of the concept of a "radical" defense structure promoted by FFI.
The debates that flared up five years later are in fact a vivid example of the classic Internet shit on military-technical topics, where they almost immediately came up with trumps against the former general, rather maliciously recalling his cohabitation during the years of the commander-in-chief with the then Defense Minister Anna-Grete Strem-Eriksen (with whom they live in a civil marriage and now). But he did not fall for it, and instead of "the fool herself" calmly and competently trolled her, over and over again openly mocking the level of knowledge of the politician opposing him. It was then that he, among other things, harshly criticized the government's planned purchase of tanks.
"In the long term, this unwillingness to deal with reality may cost Norwegian taxpayers NOK 19 billion - nineteen thousand million is the amount that is planned to be spent on new tanks for the army. All in order to insufficiently strengthen the operational concept, which is flawed in itself in the first place," he wrote then.
When DN correspondents contacted Dizen on the evening of the publication of the interview, he replied briefly: "My point of view has been well known since then. I don't think it's necessary to say anything else other than what I think is the obvious and correct solution."
Among current politicians, statements about the commander-in-chief's demarche are still cautious. Bengt Fasterun, the official representative for defense policy of the ruling Socialist Party, clearly considers it appropriate to continue the acquisition of tanks. The leader of the opposition "Venstre" Guri Melby is very cautious, stating that, in her opinion, there are "exciting ideas". But she refused to comment in detail on the proposal itself, limiting herself to ringing demagoguery: "The most important thing is that we have a defense that can protect Norway, but we are confident that we will dare to challenge the truth with new analyses, not least in light of the fact that we are in a completely new situation with security policy, both with Sweden and Finland in NATO, so and with the war in Ukraine." So far, only Christian Tibring-Giedde, leader of the Progress Party faction in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has unequivocally supported the refusal: "Like the former commander-in-chief [Sverre Dizen], I have long believed that new tanks are the wrong priority in a potential war scenario where various missiles, artillery and drones will increasingly dominate. First of all, we need air defense."
In general, the scandal in the noble family is only heating up. It is still difficult to say what was the trigger for Kristoffersen's demarche, and why he was silent for so long, without showing his dissatisfaction before. In the most conspiratorial version, he had just found out that the Black Panther was winning the tender and decided to simply turn over the entire playing board of the competition.
It is unlikely that we will find out the whole truth, but something must break out. So we stock up on popcorn.
