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An agreement to return the former Olavsvern naval base in Tromsø to the Armed Forces could be ready next week.
The then commander-in-chief Geir Bentzen was commander of Olavsvern in 2005. The dismantling of the base had already begun, before it was closed in 2009 and sold to private individuals. Photo: Ole Magnus Rapp
Recently, senior US officials have been repeatedly invited to Olavsvern, reports NRK.
On Friday, October 9, a meeting at the highest level will have been held at the Ministry of Defense, which approved an agreement that allows the Armed Forces and allies to use the base.
After Olavsvern was closed in 2009 and sold to private individuals four years later, northern Norway has not had a port for US jet-powered submarines.
The reason the United States now wants to use Olavsvern is the rising tension in the Upper North.
A majority in Tromsø’s city council has said they do not want Americans to use a municipal pier in Grøtsundet for their nuclear submarines, but Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen (H) said on NRK Dagsnytt 18 on Tuesday that the government has right to invalidate the municipality in such cases. cases.
Olavsvern was sold by Forsvarsbygg for NOK 38.1 million to private investors in Tromsø, despite the fact that the Armed Forces had spent NOK 4 billion over many years on the installation in the mountains.
The Norwegian submarine Uthaug was one of the last to dock at the mountain facility at Olavsvern when it was repaired in December 2008. The following year, the base was closed and sold to Pivate. Photograph: Jan-Morten Bjørnbakk / SCANPIX
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