The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) is to expand its biggest airbase – Ørland near Trondheim – substantially. An equivalent of 210 football fields of land is to be added to the base, which is the main combat base for the stealthy Lockheed F-35A Lightning II fighter jet of the RNoAF (Luftforsvaret).
Ørland will have extra buildings and space for ground-based air defences, a reception centre to better handle NATO reinforcements arrivals in case of war, and new shelters to the F-35 fighter jets. The number of personnel that will work on the base is likely to increase from about 2,000 to in between 2,300 and 2,700 staff, according to a spokesperson of the Norwegian Armed Forces to Norwegian broadcasting company NRK.
Norway received the final two of all its 52 ordered F-35s, 9.5 years after it started training on the type in the United States. The F-35s are the successor of the legendary F-16, of which the last were withdrawn from operational Norwegian service in January 2022. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: a NATO E-3A AWACS flying air and combat control aircraft at Ørland during the 2021 exercise ACE 2021. In the background a Norwegian F-35 is taking off. (Press photo: Jan Terje Hellemsbakken / Forsvaret)