According to Tormod Heier, Norway is better of in its role as a bridge builder in the work for “dialogue, détente and disarmament”.
Professor and Lieutenant Colonel at the Norwegian Defence College Tormod Heier has warned that the missile cooperation between Norway and the US, which according to national broadcaster NRK has lasted five years, is guaranteed to increase tension and mistrust in the Norwegian-Russian relations.
“Norway is helping to lower the threshold for the use of conventional weapons and nuclear weapons. Admittedly not in peaceful, everyday life, but there is a major rivalry developing in our strategic areas,” Heier said.
Tormod Heier ventured that Russia views Norway primarily as part of the US fighting power to stem the Russian Northern Fleet in the Norwegian Sea and westward, and warned against further development.
According to NRK, the collaboration between the US and Norwegian Defence Ministry to develop the THOR-ER missile, which can travel five times faster than the speed of sound, has been going on in secret for five years. On the Norwegian side, the partially state-owned arms manufacturer Nammo and the Defence Research Institute have participated.
Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen, by contrast, has no doubt about the missile cooperation with the United States.
“Such a technology could help strengthen Norway's defence in self-defence against ever-increasing air threats, and be an important contribution to NATO. A more challenging…
