The future fleet plan of the Royal Norwegian Navy. Click to enlarge.
The Norwegian government today announced their new long-term defence plan for the period 2025 to 2036. Under the name of The Norwegian Defence Pledge, the plan envisions significant growth which not only will see the country reach NATO’s target of 2 % of GDP to defence already this year, but also see that figure pass 3 % towards the end of the period.
Significantly for their Coast Guard,
A major standardization program is envisioned for the Coast Guard – a branch of the Navy – and non-surface warfare vessels of the Navy. The current seven classes of patrol vessels, corvettes, mine-countermeasure vessels, and auxiliaries will be replaced by two different standardized designs – a medium-sized platform for coastal waters and a large for offshore work – with modular weapons and sensor fits. A total of 18 medium and 10 large vessels are to be acquired.
Saying these will replace the corvettes means they will replace the Skjold class missile corvettes.
Norwegian Skjold class corvette Storm. From Wikipedia.
This program bears watching. The Norwegians may be showing us how to make Coast Guard cutter that can be quickly equipped to make a useful contribution in war time.