PARIS — Norway and France agreed to step up defense cooperation, signing a letter of intent that paves the way for working together more closely in areas such as maritime surveillance. The agreement comes as France’s Naval Group eyes a multibillion-dollar acquisition of frigates by the Royal Norwegian Navy.
Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram Gram welcomed his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu for talks at Akershus Fortress in Oslo on Thursday, followed by meetings with the French and Norwegian defense industries, the government said in a statement.
France is on Norway’s shortlist to supply five or six frigates, together with Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., in what would be the biggest Norwegian defense investment ever. The government says it’s looking for a strategic partnership with a close ally rather than just buying a stand-alone vessel, and its choice will consider coinciding strategic interests, including in the High North.
“France is one of our allied partners that sails, exercises and trains the most in our neighboring areas,” Gram said. “Our common interests are many and broad, and we have a strong mutual interest in further developing our co-operation.”
The governments, in their joint document, emphasized their common strategic understanding of global security threats and the need to maintain situational awareness and presence in the High North. Gram said Lecornu’s visit and the letter signal “even closer co-operation with France in several areas, such as maritime surveillance in the north and joint exercise activities.”
France and Norway will agreed to work together on hybrid threats, particularly protection of critical infrastructure such as submarine cables and energy supply lines, the government said. NATO this month launched a maritime patrol mission in the Baltic Sea in response to multiple acts of sabotage against underwater infrastructure.
Talks on increased cooperation on defense material “held a central position” during the visit, with both countries planning to invest “heavily” in equipment, Norway said. Kongsberg presented its Hugin underwater drone to Lecornu, according to the statement, which also mentioned France as one of the countries competing to supply frigates.
Naval Group’s Defense and Intervention Frigate, known by its French acronym FDI, would “perfectly” fulfill Norway’s plan to equip itself with modern frigates, Gaël Diaz de Tuesta, the head of international cooperation and exports at the French directorate for armaments, said in a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.
Naval Group started sea trials of the first FDI frigate in October, with a total of five ships on order from the French Navy, while Greece has ordered another three vessels in the class. The frigate has a length of 122 meters and displaces around 4,500 tons, making it smaller than the vessels being built or planned in the U.K., Germany and the United States.
The FDI is designed to be continuously upgraded, according to Naval Group, and the frigate has a redundant IT architecture with two data centers. The versions for the French Navy will be equipped with Thales radar and sonar and armed with MBDA’s Exocet anti-ship missiles and Aster air-defense interceptors, torpedoes and guns in various calibers.
Meanwhile, French underwater drone maker Exail complained to lawmakers last month that France continues to buy deep sea drones from Kongsberg, rather than pick a French product. The armaments directorate in October 2022 awarded the Norwegian company a contract to supply an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle capable of operating at depths of up to 6,000 meters.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
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