NATO’s new air command center will be built in Bodø, Norway
It will help increase allied engagement in the High North, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says.
There was celebration in the north Norwegian town of Bodø after the Norwegian PM on May 20 announced that the town had been chosen as site for a new Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs).
“This is an important decision for Norway. Norway’s most important strategic interests are in the High North [and] it is therefore natural that a new allied air operations center is located in the north,” Støre said in front of a local audience.
The announcement came only five days after Støre’s government in its revised national budget allocated €38 million for what was described as a ‘temporary centre.’
It is now clear that the new CAOC will be permanently based in Bodø. The town from before houses the Norwegian Joint Headquarters (NJHQ), the country’s Armed Forces operational command centre.
“By locating the centre together with the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational headquarters, the Bodø area is established as a centre of gravity for the management of military operations in our neighbouring areas,” PM Støre underlined.
NATO from before has two CAOC in Europe, in Uedem, Germany and Torrejón, Spain. The decision to establish a third came after the inclusion of Sweden and Finland in the alliance.
The building of the new air command centre is expected to cost up to NOK 9,4 billion (€830 million). Parts of the sum will be spent on the upgrade of the NJHQ, and parts of the sum will be covered by NATO.
The new CAOC will start executing its operations from Bodø already in 2025, but will the first years temporarily be based in existing military premises.
Up to 450 people will be employed in the Combined Air Operations Centre.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Is the promise of military icebreakers political theatre or sensible policy?, CBC News
Denmark: Danish PM pledges to support Greenland against Trump pressure, Thomson Reuters
Finland: US, Norwegian forces in Lapland for rapid reinforcement exercise, The Independent Barents Observer
Iceland: Iceland’s FM announces defence review, calls revamped security policy ‘urgent’, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Oslo looks to Brussels for strengthened security and defence, CBC News
Russia: Russia’s nears completion of new Arctic missile carrier, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Sweden’s Armed Forces: Railways must function without modern technology, Radio Sweden
United States: White House releases U.S. Arctic strategy implementation plan, Eye on the Arctic
