Fighters Norway complains about the low price of Finnish fighter jets: “Americans have cheated Norway by demanding billions more from fighters than Finland has to pay”

Oslo

Why Finland will get F-35 fighters at a lower price than NATO and Norway, a member of the F-35 partnership program, is busting in Norway. According to calculations by the Norwegian Information Office NTB, Finland will pay about $ 80 million for each fighter, Norway $ 120 million.

Finland will purchase 64 F-35A Block 4 multi-purpose fighters, as well as armaments, training and maintenance solutions, other systems and maintenance and servicing services by the end of 2030. The first fighters will come to Finland in 2025.

Norway has ordered 52 fighters with all their side dishes, 34 of which have already been delivered. The first F-35 came to Norway in 2017, Norway will get its last aircraft in the same year when Finland gets its first fighters.

Fighters the price difference is precisely due to the schedule, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense explains.

“Finland acquired the fighters later than Norway and pays a lower average unit price, even though Finland is not involved in the F-35 program,” says a senior adviser to the Norwegian Defense Forces. Lars Gjemble To HS.

The United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Norway are involved in the F-35 Partnership Agreement. Customers outside the F-35 partnership include Israel, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Singapore, Belgium and Finland.

“As production volumes rise, the individual price goes down. It is therefore expected that the individual price paid by Finns will be lower than in Norway, ”says Gjemble.

According to Gjemble, Norway already knew about the future “discount sale” when ordering

“Norway knew prices would go down gradually, but we couldn’t postpone trading because we had to replace our old F-16 fighters,” Gjemble says.

Despite the fall in prices, Gamble says there are no plans to buy more fighters in addition to those already ordered.

Right-wing populist Member of the Progressive Party Christian Tybring-Gjedde considers the price difference to be ‘annoying’.

“On the other hand, prices are difficult to compare, as the Norwegian defense industry has received a lot of orders related to fighter deals,” he says.

Tybring-Gjedde estimates that in the case of Finland, the United States was very flexible in getting deals with a non-NATO country.

He also speculates that Norwegian negotiators were not very strict in price negotiations at the time.

However, the slight irritation of Tybring-Gjedde is unlikely to have political consequences.

“The Progressive Party is a very pro-US and pro-defense party. We are not raising the issue in the Grand Chamber because it is of no use to us, ”says Tybring-Gjedde.

Political the Rødt party, which represents the far left of the map, has previously proposed a report on the acquisition of a fighter jet and intends to do so again.

“Americans have tricked Norway by demanding billions more from fighters than Finland has to pay. The whole procurement process has been unworthy, ”says the party leader and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Grand Chamber Bjørn Moxnes To HS.

In addition to the price, Moxnes is horrified by the cost of the fighters and their consequences.

“The F-35 is like a handmaid eating out of the other resources of the Defense Forces,” he says.

Rødt intends to demand an impartial report on fighter deals.

Norwegian Director of Materials Procurement for the Defense Forces Jarle Nergård in turn, knocks out the whole idea of ​​price differences.

He states in an opinion paper in the Forsvarets Forum that speculation about price differences is false: Finland and Norway pay the same price for fighters, he says.