http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #378 September 2019 // 45ormed in 1944, the Luftforsvaret
(Royal Norwegian Air Force, RNoAF) is
undergoing perhaps its greatest period
of change since its formation, as new fifth-
generation fighters, helicopters and maritime
patrol aircraft are rapidly being introduced.
Their priority is national sovereignty, and
Norway’s defence forces are always at high
readiness given the country’s proximity to
Russia – the two countries share a 120-mile
(193km) land border – but they cannot do this
alone. To deter the resurgent Russian threat,
interoperability with other nations is expanding,
demonstrated by major multinational NATO
manoeuvres such as Cold Response 2016,
Trident Juncture 2018 (NATO in the Far
North, February, p56-59) and latterly, Arctic
Challenge Exercise 2019. Although Russia is
not officially identified as an adversary, you
only have to look at a map of the region to
realise that the country is on every defence
planner’s mind within the Scandinavian
nations and NATO members in the vicinity.
The scale of the alliance’s exercises
is expanding rapidly, partly in response
to increased Russian activity in the
region and also because there are few
better locations on earth to train. This is
becoming more evident as nations, such as
Germany, the Netherlands and the United
States, specifically seek to expand their
interoperability with Norway, following a
trend established by the United Kingdom.Interoperability
Norway and the UK share a ‘special’ defence
relationship, evidenced by Exercise Clockwork
which celebrated its 50th anniversary this
year. UK forces, including Joint Helicopter
Command’s Commando Helicopter Force
(CHF), are well established at Bardufoss
flystasjon (Bardufoss Air Station) in Troms
county, having begun a cold weather survival
and rotary environmental qualification training
effort here in 1969. During Clockwork 2019,
AFM considered some of the defence issues
pertinent to Bardufoss, including Norway’s
strategic international interoperability,
with its station commander, Colonel Eirik
Stueland. His responsibilities also encompass
station commander of Banak (Lakselv)
Station Group – Norway’s most northerly
air base, located approximately 350 miles
(550km) from Bardufoss – commanding
officer of 139 Luftving (139 Air Wing),
and supporting Exercise Clockwork.
Located on the south side of Bardufoss
airfield are the buildings and other facilities
to support Clockwork and house British
forces for five to six months of the year, as
Col Stueland explained: “Bardufoss has great
infrastructure and is of strategic
importance. This area is like
no other; if you can fly here,
you can fly anywhere. The
training areas are huge,
unrestricted, and youcan fly from the sea up to snow-capped
mountains and onwards to live-firing ranges
which are ten minutes’ flying time away.
“Given our size and the political situation
in surrounding countries, it is important
Norway has allies who could come to our
aid if necessary. We therefore need to
train regularly with international partners
which include the United Kingdom,
with whom we enjoy an excellent
co-operation. We are the sole provider
of whatever Clockwork requires locally
but they [Clockwork’s UK administration]
generally manage their own affairs.
“Bardufoss airspace is civilian controlled
but our air wing operations manage all
air tasking orders, including Clockwork’s
missions. During the past two years, our
joint interoperability has increased, with
Bell 412s flying missions with Chinook
and Merlin [HC3/3A] in 2018, and Apache
[656 Squadron] and Wildcat [847 Naval Air
Squadron] in 2019. One mission involved
four Bell 412s and two Wildcats. Our Bell
aircraft provided lift support for United States
Marine Corps forces whilst two Wildcats
provided close airNorway’s air defences
F
3N ATO
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