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Weeks 1-2: Battalion for NRF
The Telemark battalion was since 10 January a part of NATO Response Force 8. It will be part of a multinational unit with a Turkish command.
| | READY: The Telemark battalion is on readiness for the NRF. (Photo by the Armed Forces) |
The battalion will continue its normal training routines, since it is in the battalion’s nature to be ready at short notice. As a part of the NRF, the battalion will have to be ready to go on a mission in thirty days.
The world’s fastest
The Americans call it ”the new generation’s Viking ship”. The new Norwegian missile torpedo boats of the Skjold class will be the fastest battle vessels the world has ever seen.
| | IMPRESSED: Construction manager Sigurd Myhre is impressed with the progress of the new vessels. (Photo by Vegard Breie) |
With their 16 000 horsepower and four engines, the new missile torpedo boats will reach a speed of 60 knots.
The six boats will be delivered from April 2008.
| | PLANS: Lt Col Frank Terje Aarrestad is leading the planning of the exercise. (Photo by Lars Kroken) |
Ready for Cold Response
The Final Planning Conference for exercise Cold Response 2007 was held in Sandnes last week.
“We rarely make big changes so close to a major exercise, so the plans were ready before this conference. But it’s a good opportunity for us to coordinate between all the participating nations,” says Frank Terje Aarrestad from the National Joint Headquarters.
Cold Response will be held at the start of March, and it involves 8500 soldiers from 16 different countries.
Eco-friendly coastguard
The Ministry of Defence has accepted a deal where the Norwegian Coastguard leases a new vessel which runs on gas rather than diesel.
| | NEW: The new vessel is more eco-friendly than the old ones. |
The fact that the vessel runs on gas rather than diesel cuts the emissions of nitrogen oxide by 90 % and of carbon dioxide by 20 %.
Warming presents
The orphanage Fatumatu Zahra in Meymaneh in Afghanistan does not have ovens in the cold winter. With the help of Norwegian NATO personnel, the children’s home does not only get ovens, but also desks and school material for the children.
| | HAPPY MOMENT: Kristian Rubach is trying out the new desks with some of the children. (Photo by Fredrik Bøhn) |
The money for the equipment came from the Norwegian delegation at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium. It was the Norwegian soldiers from the Provincial Reconstruction Team Meymaneh which handed the equipment to the home.
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