Norway’s Military Spending Increased By Half a Billion Dollars To Tackle ‘Russian Threat’

Norway in a bid to withstand ‘Russian threat’ has vowed to increase its military spending by about half a billion US dollars and increased exports to US by $10 million to be used in conflict zones.

“Norway would spend $477 million on building the nation’s first anti-aircraft battery and modernizing its squadron of German Leopard 2 tanks amongst other defense projects,” Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide was quoted as saying by Sputnik on 29 April 2015.

According to the local media, the country’s defense experts have been recently calling for “more troops and better capabilities close to the Russian border” fearing to be “a small neighboring country to a superpower with global ambitions.”

As in 2013, the three largest recipients of Norwegian weapons in 2014, in terms of value, were the USA, Poland and Sweden. The USA has long been the largest buyer of Norwegian weapons, and in 2014 these exports increased considerably.

The country has also increased its arms exports to US by about $10 million that is to be used in conflict zones.

Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) show that nearly 80 per cent of the military exports in 2014 were made to NATO countries amounting to 1.4 billion NOK ($185 million) and nearly half of the these exports were made to the US.

The exports include bombs, grenades, ammunition parts rather than military weapons, Sputnik reported.