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De siste par-tre månedene har norske F-35A trent sammen med amerikanske bombefly av typen B-1B Lancer og B-2 Spirit.

Onsdag var det klart for samtrening også med det tredje av de strategiske bombeflyene i US Air Force: B-52H Stratofortress.

Fire B-52H fra 5th Bomb Wing fløy tur/retur fra hjemmebasen Minot i Nord-Dakota, med drivstoffhjelp fra KC-135 Stratotanker-fly fra RAF Mildenhall i England og Eielson-basen utenfor Fairbanks i Alaska.

Ifølge ei melding fra USAF på Ramstein utførte flyene oppdrag over Laptevhavet og Nordishavet før de møtte de norske flyene. B-52 var på besøk i november i fjor også, men den gang var det kun F-16 fra Luftforsvaret som var i lufta. Läs artikel

Sensommeren 2017 inngikk Norge og Finland en avtale om tettere samarbeid innen forsvarslogistikk. Avtalen var historisk. Slikt forsvarssamarbeid over landegrensene er uvanlig. Tilfeldig var den derimot ikke.

Selv om verken Finland eller Sverige er del av noen forsvarsallianse, er begge landene, gjennom sine EU-medlemskap og bilaterale avtaler med eksempelvis USA, tett knyttet opp til den alliansen vi er en del av. I tillegg, og ikke uviktig, når det er snakk om forsvarsanliggender, anses Norden som én strategisk region av det fellesnordiske forsvarssamarbeidet Nordic Defence Cooperation (Nordefco). I en større sikkerhetspolitisk krise i regionen vil alle de nordiske landene berøres, og i inneværende langtidsplan for forsvarssektoren i Norge heter det om de nordiske land at vi har «felles tilhørighet i det euro-atlantiske sikkerhetsfellesskapet». Läs artikel

[…] För ett land som inte under överskådlig tid kommer att ansöka om medlemskap i Nato, ter sig idén om att klara sitt eget försvar på svältkur och ropa på hjälp vid behov som en rent av farlig strategi för framtiden. I synnerhet som USA, vars militära styrka vi ytterst förlitar oss på, drar sig alltmer undan och brottas med egna konvulsioner. Risken ökar att vi blir ensamma vid kris i närområdet med hänvisning till vår brist på eget ansvar för vårt försvar. […]

At least four F-35s and three F-16s from the Norwegian Air Force were flying up north wing-by-wing with the huge American long-range strategic bomber, the Norwegian Armed Forces informs.

The exercise comes just two weeks after both Swedish and Norwegian fighter jets were flying together with a B-1B strategic bomber from the U.S. Air Force over Scandinavia.

The joint exercise on Wednesday this week went much further north.

“US is our closest ally. This deployment demonstrates US commitment to the defence of Europe. US forces need to conduct exercises in Europe with its allies to be able to defend Allied territories, including our national area of responsibility. Through this kind of integrated training between close allies, both our forces increase our ability to operate together seamlessly,” said Norway’s Chief of Defence, Haakon Bruun-Hansen, in a prepared statement. […]

In a short note about long duration strategic bomber task mission throughout Europe and the Arctic region June 3, the U.S. Air Force in Europe writes “The Arctic is a strategic region with growing geopolitical and global importance, the U.S. Department of Defense is working with our Arctic nations and multinational and interagency public and private partners to maintain a secure and stable region where nations work cooperatively to address challenges.” Läs artikel

Läs också kommentar på den här sajten till Sveriges övning med amerikanska strategiska bombplan

Det förefaller som om inget politiskt parti skulle vilja eller våga ta upp frågan om behovet av att köpa nya jaktplan till allvarlig diskussion, trots att de flesta är medvetna om att den tekniska utvecklingen håller på att gå förbi pilotstyrda plan.

Det russiske forsvaret lot seg provosere av den store Nato-øvelsen i Arktis i mai. Nå planlegger russerne en egen storøvelse. Forsker mener Norge må være sitt ansvar bevisst.

Spain will close the Gran Capitan base (Besmayah, Iraq) this summer, the most important of the Spanish troops in the country, where before the pandemic 350 of its 530 troops were deployed, the newspaper El País reported on Monday. Military sources point out that the tasks to which the troops deployed there were dedicated, consisting of the training of large units of the Iraqi Army and Police, have now been completed. The Ministry of Defence is also preparing the withdrawal of the last Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan for the end of this year or the beginning of 2021. Government sources consulted by La Vanguardia point out that the troops will be relocated to other parts of the world at the request of NATO and not by decision of the Government. […]

The first Spanish soldiers arrived in Afghanistan at the end of 2002, 18 years ago, and it has been the mission with the highest number of casualties of the Spanish Army, including the 62 dead in the Yak-42 tragedy. Due to the coronavirus, the activities of the Spanish military were interrupted several weeks ago. Spain then temporarily withdrew 65 military personnel. Now the final departure is being prepared. […]

The pandemic also forced the withdrawal of 100 Spanish soldiers from the 278 deployed in the European Union mission in Mali, which is dedicated to instructing the Malian Army. Despite this, Spain has not considered withdrawing troops, but even increasing them. The withdrawal in Asia can be favoured with a greater presence in the Sahel, a territory where the jihadist groups have become strong. In addition, there are major problems with the mafias, trafficking in drugs, arms or immigrants. The insecurity in this area of Africa represents a threat to Europe that is closer than instability in the Middle East. The European Union has just approved the fifth mandate of its mission in Mali until 2024 and has even increased the budget. Läs artikel

Kay Bailey Hutchison, the US permanent representative to NATO has said that the alliance’s troop withdrawal depends on American troop drawdown and that NATO would leave in coordination with the US at the same time. […]

In her interview with the VOA, she said that NATO would be continuing training and advising the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

She called the political agreement between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah as a great achievement, saying that NATO hopes the agreement led to a successful deal. She said that NATO and Afghanistan has proper vibes and that it remains committed to supporting the Afghan women. This is as Washington recently accelerated the American troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

However, the US Secretary of Defense said that American troops pulling out from Afghanistan before the US presidential election is an option but not a “strong” one. Läs artikel

The German domestic dispute about its future role in NATO nuclear sharing is heating up again. But the discussion took a new turn when in May 2020 US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher tweeted “If Germany wants to diminish nuclear capability and weaken NATO, perhaps Poland – which pays its fair share, understands the risks, and is on NATO’s eastern flank – could house the capabilities.” How much merit does this “perhaps” have?

NATO nuclear sharing is an arrangement in which the United States deploys about 150 nuclear free-fall bombs in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey, of which about 80 are for delivery by European NATO aircraft. Berlin, Rome, Brussels and Amsterdam possess nuclear-certified planes and train their pilots on the nuclear mission, while several other Allies, including Poland, would support NATO nuclear operations with conventional air tactics (SNOWCAT).

In December 2015, asked if Poland would want to join NATO’s nuclear sharing program, Deputy Defence Minister Tomasz Szatkowski said, “concrete steps are currently under consideration.” Läs artikel

A new AAN special report looks at why the political vision of the 2002 Bonn Agreement and 2004 constitution with its promises of a representative democracy has failed to materialise. It finds answers in the huge levels of unearned foreign income that has flowed into Afghanistan since 2001, both aid and the money spent by foreign forces. This income has funded the government and been a major element of national income (GDP) for the last 18 years. Yet, as this report explores, it has sabotaged democracy and undermined the domestic economy. The report’s author, Kate Clark, here looks at why this topic is so important now, given the possibility that the income on which the Afghan state depends may dry up. […]

Afghanistan’s rent is made up of both spending by the various foreign armies deployed to Afghanistan and international aid. Looking at these two sources of income in the same light may seem strange given their very different aims. However, the rentier effect each has on Afghanistan’s political economy is the same. It might also seem that aid should have very different and far more positive consequences than rent from other sources. Not so, according to a World Bank paper; at least in terms of its impact on political institutions, it found, “aid is a bigger curse than oil.”14 What is significant is not whether there has been greater or less ‘aid effectiveness’. Rather, it is the magnitude of the aid, along with the spending by foreign armies, and how this distorts the state/citizen relationship and the economy, that has proved so deeply problematic for Afghanistan. Läs artikel