The Norwegian parliament has approved the purchase of four Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for training purposes ahead of a final decision set for next year on buying up to 52 additional jets. Norway's Labour-led majority government fended off criticism of cost overruns and delays in the US programme and secured broad parliamentary support to order training craft valued by US officials at more than $400 million.
"I am happy the parliament voted to support the purchase of four F-35 training aircraft," Defence Minister Grete Faremo said in a statement on Friday. Nato-member Norway's current fleet of US-built F-16s, mostly from the 1980s, has been bombing Libyan targets.
The F-35 trainers are to be delivered in 2016 from an early production run, before Lockheed Martin is done developing a final software package, senior ministry adviser Marita Isaksen Wangberg told Reuters. Norway's parliament approved a cost framework of 4.8 billion crowns ($865 million) for the planes, including contingencies and early operational costs.
Faremo promised an external review of pricing before next year's final decision on replacing her country's aging F-16s. The US Department of Defence's F-35 programme, restructured twice in two years, is currently expected to cost $382 billion. Eight allies, including Nato-member Norway, are pitching in on development costs. In 2009 the Norwegian government said the F-35 was a better fit than Saab's JAS Gripen.
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