Norway closed down the entire Sjøheimevernet in 2017. – And nothing has been replaced. We saved 80 million and are lying with our butts bare for crises and war, says former head of the Sea Home Guard, Svein Jacobsen. Sjøheimevernet costs NOK 80 million a year. That is around one per thousand of the Armed Forces’ budget. RETIRED: Commander Svein Jarle Jacobsen was a member of the Sjøheimevernet. Photo: news For this money they had 130 boats, many very fast, divers and over 2000 soldiers. They fit ports in the cities and important facilities such as the oil plant at Mongstad. – Who does this now? – Yes, I also wonder, says Jacobsen. EXERCISE: Sjøheimevernet on exercise in the Oslo Fjord 2015. Two years later they were closed down. Photo: Alexander Sylte / The Armed Forces – Sits in Oslo and believes that war will only take place in the north The year after the closure, the Armed Forces was slaughtered for lack of security and safety. – Sjøheimevernet should have been developed and not closed down. A total lack of understanding of the threats against Norway, says Ola Elvestuen in the Liberal Party. – A huge loss, says researcher Ståle Ulriksen at Sjøkrigsskulen. Especially since the Russian navy in recent years has gone from a large sea-going navy – to several small corvettes and smaller submarines that can go along the Norwegian coast. – They sit in Oslo and believe that war will only happen in the north. A missile can easily hit the Storting for that matter, says Ulriksen. He points out that the Russians are steadily sailing along our fjord with ships with 1000 people on board. And that all the most important values in Norway lie along the coast. Such as oil, gas, power and mains cables. – The Storting and the defense leadership have decided that the coast is not important. They replace, among other things, corvettes with fighter jets, says the researcher at Sjøkrigsskulen. He also believes that there has been prestige in closure and cuts. – The Home Guard is very cheap and the only one in the Armed Forces that has many soldiers. Nevertheless, it is now starvation food. CRITICAL: Ståle Ulriksen and war captain Tor Ivar Strømmen at the Naval Academy think the closure of the Naval Guard makes Norway more vulnerable. Photo: Sjøkrigsskulen – Missing Transformers technology It was the Coast Guard and drones that, according to the defense leadership’s plan, were to replace the Sjøheimevernet, according to ex-chief Jacobsen. – But the Coast Guard’s five semi-military boats can not replace 130 vessels. And the drones one would need cost around one billion kroner each. One would need around 10-12 such drones along our coast. One could have many years of sea home protection for 12 billion, he says. Over 120 years, if you count on it. The drones were scrapped because of the price. – Even that was one of the preconditions for closing down Sjøheimevernet, says Jacobsen. LOW TECHNOLOGY: If you are going to eat, you should have people. Photo: Marius Kaniewski / HV / The Armed Forces He believes that the top management in the Armed Forces has too high respect for high technology, and too low respect for low technology. – The Transformers technology is not here yet, he says and points to the war in Ukraine where soldiers still play perhaps the most important role. Should use the money in the north What made the Storting shut down this simple and relatively inexpensive part of Norway’s defense? – I would go so far as to call it a democratic problem, says Jacobsen. Those who sit in the Storting depend on good and correct information before they vote on proposals. Did they have it here ?, Jacobsen asks. END: The task force of the Sjøheimevernet handed in equipment and weapons in June 2017. Photo: Halvor Folgerø / news It was the Conservatives, the Liberal Party and the Labor Party that arranged for the closure. Ine Marie Eriksen (H) was Minister of Defense when Sjøheimevernet was abolished. She did not want to answer news’s questions at the time. Now she lets Høgre’s defense policy spokesperson Hårek Elvenes answer: – The decision to disband the Sjøheimevernet was made after professional military advice put forward by the Chief of Defense in 2015. Furthermore, it is stated that this would free up resources to prioritize the north, and that the Armed Forces’ naval special forces have been strengthened. – Makes it easier for Russia Researcher Ståle Ulriksen shakes his head over priorities. – Yes, it is important to strengthen in the north, but if the Russians close the sea route further south – what then? Then one does not get supplies up. TROMS: Sjøheimevernet on drill in Troms just before the closure. Photo: Marte Brohaug / The Armed Forces He is supported by colleague Tor Ivar Strømmen. – Sjøheimevernet could guard what happened in the archipelago and ports. They could board boats, show away or arrest vessels that snowshoe or broke the law, says Strømmen. In addition, their divers could check blasting cams around boats and oil facilities, ports, gas pipelines and power cables. – The absence of the Sjøheimevernet makes it far easier for the Russians along the coast in the event of an armed conflict, says Strømmen. The current Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) and the then Chief of Defense Haakon Bruun-Hanssen have not wished to respond to news no about the closure.
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Closure of Sjøheimevernet a huge loss victory Sjøkrigsskulen and Svein Jacobsen – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
