Norway commits to initial four F-35s

The Norwegian government has announced plans for an initial buy of four Lockheed Martin F-35 JSFs with which to start pilot training with from 2016.

Norway’s Defence Minister Grete Faremo cited “maintaining a satisfactory operational combat aircraft capacity in the transition phase between the F-16 and F-35” as the key reason for the 4.8 billion Norwegian Krone (approx US$875m) acquisition.