Norway’s EVENES (VG) will be NATO’s eyes and ears as Russia’s monitoring activity intensifies in the north. The new P8 plane should take care of that.

– It has a completely different capacity than the P3 we flew from Andøya today, and gives us a much better capability to monitor the north, both below and at sea level, said Colonel Kristian Lyssand, and nodded at the large plane . parked behind him in a temporary military hangar in Evenes.

He is the head of the Air Operations Inspectorate (LOI), which conducts collection and monitoring in Norwegian airspace.

The P8 aircraft is based on the standard 737 passenger plane. The large fuselage provides room for advanced military technology, sonar buoys for anti-submarine warfare, and missiles and other weapons.

Norway has a large sea area to monitor. Five planes scheduled to take over in 2023 will make it easier. So far, Norway has received two of them, one in November last year, and one last week.

Currently, there are six Orion P-3s – which have been in service for 60 years – and three Falcon DA-20 Jets performing the task.

Inside the P8 plane, there is a place with a screen that can collect data about what is happening above and below the water, and send it to those who analyze the information on the ground. Further back on the plane there is anti-submarine equipment:

Aircraft can cover a large area, and stay a long time above the sea. There, they should be able to locate and identify targets such as submarines, and they should also be equipped with the ability to hit targets below the surface of the ocean.

Will follow alone

When the government proposed an additional grant of three billion kroner to the Armed Forces after the Russian invasion of Ukrainebe 800 million was set aside for increased monitoring of marine areas in the north.

As NATO countries now increase activity in the north, it is important for the Norwegian government to maintain control, according to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

– If we stop following what’s going on in the north, I think someone else will, and I don’t think it will get any better. Norway has to take on the main task itself. We’re here, so we’ll take good care of that role, he said he’s at VG this weekend.

Rune Andersen, head of the navy, agreed.

– We depend on allies, but we also depend on leading positions so that we influence in the direction of sustained low tension and stability, he said.

When VG visited the base, he had just given a tour of Eric Janicot, commander of the French air and naval forces.

France, unlike the UK, has not yet launched a major investment in the High North. But they increased defense investment, and Janicot told VG he was interested in training more with Norway, and learning from Norway’s expertise in the High North.

– It’s about working together better to defend our interests, he said.

In September two years ago, Anglo-American naval exercises in the north received a lot of attention when they sailed deep into the Russian economic zone, followed by a Norwegian frigate.

A year later, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Labor Party) told VG that it was very important for Norway that military activity near the Russian border was something that Norway was best done alone.

When Britain launched their new High North initiative from Bardufoss on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Odd Roger Enoksen (Sp) said the increased interest from allies in the north was good – but it also offered challenges.

– We have spoken to better coordinate this, he said.

Norway will thus contribute to the relaxation of Russia, but at the same time rely on Russia’s support and deterrence from its NATO allies.

– The way to achieve that is to have very close cooperation with close allies who want to operate here so that we can have dialogue and in that way influence how operations take place here, Andersen in the air force told VG.

– Then I think both within the framework of NATO but also on a bilateral basis between Norway and close allies. France is one of them, he said.