The background for the debate is the request to the chief of defense on the issue of new tanks. The government was close to deciding whether it would be a Korean or a German model to replace the outdated Leopard tanks. Then came the bombshell, first reported by Dagens Næringsliv: Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen advised against the entire purchase. He wanted helicopters and long-range artillery instead. – Let the neighbors take the brunt It means a lot that Norway handed over the defense of Finnmark to its future NATO friends Finland and Sweden, claims defense analyst Robin Häggblom. Norway cannot stop a Russian attack alone, but must wait for reinforcements, he writes on his blog: “The plan to use long-range artillery and get some others to spearhead a counter-attack means in practice that some others will take them biggest loss in the battle for Finnmark.” “It is difficult to see that this leads to anything other than Finnish and Swedish sons and daughters on the front line dying to protect civilians in Vardø.” Häggblom elaborates to High North News, which mentioned the case first. – If Norwegian politicians and the defense are willing to let the population of East Finnmark suffer under occupation until some others come to their rescue – something we have seen can mean torture, rape and murder – it is a strange and extreme decision. The Finnish Ministry of Defense will not comment on whether they support Häggblom’s point of view, and the Finnish Defense Ministry has not responded to news’s inquiry. The Leopard 2A4 tank is outdated, and it is cheaper to buy new ones than to tinker with the old ones. Photo: Torbjørn Kjosvold / Forsvaret Diesen: Completely unrealistic Former chief of defense Sverre Diesen believes Häggblom is missing. He points out that Sweden and Finland have their strategic focus on the Baltics and the Baltic Sea. – It would be completely unrealistic to believe that one would be able to move ground forces from southern Finland and southern Sweden up to the North Calotte in order for them to carry out a counter-attack into Norwegian territory, says the general. In a war situation, there is at least as much use for these forces as they were in the beginning, says Diesen. He believes that Finnmark is anyway too large to be able to defend the area by holding the ground with ground forces. – This notion that if we only buy tanks, we can defend Finnmark almost from Mehamn to Masi, it is a complete delusion. Diesen says that holding Finnmark while waiting for allies would require a force two to three times the size of today’s brigade. There is no money for that. Furthermore, such a build-up would provoke Russia. Open debate It is causing concern that Norwegian defense officials are openly disagreeing about the tank purchase. While the top commander says no, Lieutenant General Yngve Odlo, among others, says that the need is well documented. Diesen doesn’t think it’s a problem. – This is about things that are not useful to keep secret after all. The only thing we would have achieved if we did not have an open debate about it is to cut ourselves off from a sensible discussion. Conservative Diesen already wrote in 2011 that the concept for defending Finnmark was outdated. He believes that leadership in a defense branch will be strongly influenced by the organization in which they have spent their entire career. It is very unlikely that many of them have retained the ability to look critically at themselves, he says. – It is classic institutional military conservatism: All strong professional circles will always fight to preserve themselves. – Where do you find the new ideas, and who should the politicians primarily listen to? – They should first and foremost listen to the only person who has both responsibility for and insight into the health. It’s the defense chief. He is the one they have singled out as their primary adviser. Then they should also consider that there are institutional reasons why they will never get anything other than conservative advice from every single part of the Armed Forces, says Diesen. He also highlights other circles that do not have enough self-interest invested in the question – first and foremost the Norwegian Defense Research Institute, where he himself works as chief researcher. Mayors for tanks If the government listens to the mayors in Norwegian defense municipalities, there will be new tanks. In a debate post, six mayors demand that the Army must get new tanks without further delays. “Should the defense of the future be based on the enemy being allowed to freely cross the border and harass the Norwegian people living in the north, and then use missiles to take them out one by one? What about us who live here in the north? Such a strategy seems to surrender us to the superior power without even trying to defend the country”, they write.
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Hevdar Noreg will let Swedish and Finnish soldiers bleed for Finnmark – news Troms and Finnmark
