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Investing in drones by the Armed Forces is about ensuring the lives of its own soldiers, but also the security of the kingdom.
Now it is mobilizing for a broad civil and military effort to solve a demanding mission: a national defense against drones.
Drones as assault weapons
– Drones are part of the modern battlefield and pose new threats. We see that drones are increasingly being equipped as an attack weapon, and we need to deal with that, says Army Chief Lars Lervik.
At the Army General Staff Department in Heggelia in Målselv, Dan Gjerde from the Armored Battalion shows the department’s drone assets to the army commander, including a tiny Nano drone that is 10-12cm long and weighs only 18 grams.
It is developed by a Norwegian company and is produced in Norway.
Army chief Lars Lervik warns that drones will be as common as machine guns at the lowest level of the army. Photo: Egil Pettersen
Lars Lervik wants a broad national gathering and praises the Norwegian civil drone community and the research that, together with the resources of the police and the Armed Forces’ own capabilities, will be able to make Norway a great powerhouse in drone technology.
“We have already ordered several hundred new systems, and in the course of a year it will be as common to have an unmanned drone as to have a machine gun at the lowest level in the army,” Lervik told TV 2.
A Norwegian-developed mini drone weighing just 18 grams can replace soldiers for reconnaissance in the field.
– You can do it by flying over the mound instead of sending soldiers to see what’s on the other side, explains the army chief.
Reckless use sparked fear of terrorism in Slottsplassen
But drones are also an effective combat weapon. They have been used to take lives, or used by protesters who with a drone managed to stop the operations of 1,000 planes and reach 140,000 in London airports a year ago. Here at home, the irrational use of drones has affected civil aviation and sparked police action and terror fears in Slottsplassen on May 17 this year.
More people in 2021 and pledge of helicopter support for the Army in Bardufoss
– Now we are concerned with developing procedures and technology to be able to protect ourselves against these types of threats, says the army chief.
A demanding task that Norwegian civilian drone researchers are also helping to solve. Among other things, the drone section at the Norwegian research center NORCE in Tromsø.
“Electronic countermeasures against drones, I would compare it to using a snow cannon against fighter jets,” says operations manager Nils Håheim-Saers.
The commander-in-chief bets the Norwegian environment may contract.
– We have a good environment both military and civil, which means that we can become a world leader in an important area for military and civil use in the future, says Lars Lervik.
