Commander in Chief: The state of the Armed Forces is weak
Chief of Defense Haakon Bruun-Hanssen believes the Armed Forces will collapse after a short time in a crisis or war, according to a classified report.
According to Klassekampen, the report states that the Central Government has been aware that vital parts of the Armed Forces are “thinly manned and has low perseverance” and therefore will collapse quickly in a crisis or war.
The report titled “Defense Chief Performance and Control Report for 2016” is stamped as confidential and contains the Chief of Defense’s assessment.
The preparedness in the Army, the Air Force, the National Guard, the Cyber Defense, the Armed Forces Sanitary unit and the Armed Forces Logistics Organization are considered to be “unsatisfactory” according to the report.
The Armed Forces’ operational ability is considered “not so good”, while the Armed Forces Special Forces are the only part that gets the grade “satisfactory”.
Enormous backlog on maintenance
The report notes that the Ministry of Defense has earmarked NOK 2.4 billion to cover a maintenance backlog over the next four years. But this will not be enough to cover the entire backlog, which is estimated at a little less than NOK 3 billion.
Press Officer for the Defense chief, Sven Halvorsen, says to the newspaper that they do not want to comment on a classified report.
– In general, we can say that the Defense Chief Commander in recent years has been clearly addressing challenges related to the defense’s responsiveness and stamina, Halvorsen says.
– The Armed Forces are now in the process of implementing measures that will improve the situation in the Armed Forces, he adds.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today