The new Finnmark Brigade of the Norwegian Armed Forces should defend Norway against a possible Russian invasion from the very first metre of the border. However, despite plans the unit is understaffed and has to make its stand with some of the oldest equipment in the Norwegian Army’s inventory.
Norway is expecting 54 state-of-the-art Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks from Germany before the end of 2028. One would expect that at least some of them will be directly send to the premier unit at the border with Russia, but no. Instead, the Norwegian military leadership keeps the tanks closer to Oslo and will deploy the 40-year-old Leopard 2A4 tanks to the Finnmark area in the far north. Apart from their age, maintenance time and costs are likely higher on those older machines, which in turn will limit the readiness of the whole unit in case of crisis or war.
New Norwegian brigade of 4,000 troops
Norwegian broadcasting company NRK published the news about the readiness in the 3rd week of June 2026. The new brigade is part of the reinforcement plan for the Norwegian Armed Forces and is expected to have a battle strength of 4,000 troops, split into two garrison units in Porsanger and Sør-Varanger. Of those, about 800 to 900 will be full-time soldiers, supplemented by conscripts and army reserves. Currently, the Finnmark brigade consists of only 350 full-time, professional military men and women.
South Korean K-9 howitzers
There is some good news however, the new South Korean manufactured K-9 howitzers will make their way to the Finnmark brigade in the coming two years, to equip the Artillery Battalion of the unit. The older Leopard 2A4 tanks are to equip the tank battalion based in Porsanger, and a third battalion that will be kept in reserve. The fourth main unit is the Ranger Battalion, which is already currently spearheading the brigade as the premier border guarding unit. The brigade is planned to have its own mobile air defence, logistics, engineers and other supporting smaller units, as well as drone capability to be developed with lessons learned from or even in cooperation with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Russia to match with 17,000 troops
The Finnmark Brigade is expected to be fully operational by 2030. Meanwhile, Russia is expanding its infrastructure as close as 11 kilometres (7 miles) from the Norwegian border. With analysts estimating to have accommodations in the area for up to 17,000 Russian troops. | © 2026 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: A Norwegian Leopard 2A4 tank on exercise in Finnmark, 2022 (Photo: Sigrid Vormeland/Forsvaret)