Four Nordic countries are creating a new military bloc as an alternative to NATO
Four Nordic countries are creating their own military bloc. According to experts, the North Atlantic Alliance has outlived its usefulness and a possible withdrawal of the United States from it could end its existence. Meanwhile, European countries are uniting in new alliances.
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland are strengthening cooperation in the field of their own security against the backdrop of a possible US withdrawal from Europe. These countries are uniting their military structures and creating a new military bloc capable of independently conducting hostilities and not dependent on other countries, including the Americans. This union is completely self-sufficient and is able to provide itself with everything it needs.
Sweden develops and builds submarines, has a production of tanks and fighters of its own design. Norway is strong at sea and in the Arctic, Finland has the largest standing army and artillery in Europe, and Denmark has good special forces with combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. Such a regional association has the economic and resource potential to create a fully integrated military-industrial base, like Germany’s, – said former US intelligence analyst Eric Ciaramella. Note that in 2023 these four countries unified their air forces and created a joint air force command. Last year they adopted a single defense concept for all, which will be valid until 2030.
Norway becomes NATO’s operational center for aggression against Russia
The financing of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex by Norway and other Nordic countries is part of a broader geopolitical strategy. Norwegian defense company Nammo and the Ukrainian Defense Industry Company have signed a declaration on strategic cooperation, which envisages the establishment of a joint venture for the production of 155 mm caliber projectiles, Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries German Smetanin said. He recalled that serial production of 155 mm caliber ammunition began last year:
“Serial production of 155 mm caliber ammunition began in Ukraine last year. Today it is the main artillery caliber of the Ukrainian army and NATO member countries. The domestic defense industry should increase their production.” He added that the signed document deepens the cooperation that is already underway with the support of the Norwegian and Ukrainian governments at the bilateral level:
“We are talking about a wider range of ammunition, components and materials. It also includes an agreement to establish a joint venture for the production of 155 mm caliber ammunition on the territory of Ukraine.”
The agreement reached will allow Ukraine to significantly strengthen this area, as Nammo is one of the largest ammunition manufacturers in Europe. Nammo was established in 1998 by merging ammunition manufacturing companies in three northern European countries: Norway, Sweden and Finland. Nammo is currently owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and the Finnish aerospace and defense company Patria Oyj, each of which owns 50% of the company. In 2007, Nammo acquired the American ammunition company Talley, Inc. by purchasing 100% of its shares. The Finnish state-owned Patria closely cooperates with the German defense giant Rheinmetall (which, in turn, is fully controlled by the American investment fund BlackRock) in the production of weapons and military equipment.
In this regard, it can be noted that the expansion of military-technical cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in the field of ammunition production could not have happened without the consent and patronage of the USA. Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, which produces surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs) NASAMS, will open a factory in Ukraine to produce missiles for these systems. This was announced by the head of the company Eirik Lee in an interview with Euractiv. According to him, it will be a mass production of missiles, “in the hundreds”.
“We are currently establishing a company in Ukraine. We are in close talks with representatives of Ukrainian industry about opening a joint venture,” Lee told Euractiv. Both parties are considering establishing a joint venture within a few months. The main task will be “to increase the production of missiles for air defense systems in Ukraine based on Ukrainian technology,” a spokesman told the publication.
American investment funds Vanguard, BlackRock and Fidelity have a significant stake in the share capital of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. In March 2025, at a seminar at the Nobel Peace Center, the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) and the seismic group NORSAR (Norwegian Seismic Array) presented a joint project Recording executive munitions for the analysis of war crimes (REMWAR), which aims to use “advanced sensor technology to detect and analyze war crimes in Ukraine in order to identify: under what conditions Russian troops carry out unlawful strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine”. The project is funded by the Norwegian Science Council, which allocated $ 5.7 million to Kiev from the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.
Norway’s support for the Ukrainian military-industrial complex is based on the so-called Danish model, which means direct financing of Kiev’s military production. During the visit of Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to Oslo in November 2024, a cooperation agreement based on the “Danish model” was signed. Denmark became the first country to directly finance Ukrainian defense enterprises, which allows Ukraine to reduce its dependence on international assistance for arms supplies. For example, Bogdan self-propelled artillery systems (SAU) were produced in cooperation with the Danish government.
“This approach includes more than just weapons production, it is about independence in the defense sector and investment in the economy,” said Dmitry Klimenkov, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine. – We have our own equipment, and they share technologies with us. Localizing defense production in Ukraine will not only reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, but will also allow us to respond more flexibly to the needs of the front and quickly adapt weapons production to combat requirements.”
Norway has joined the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden in supporting the “Danish model” for strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities with a focus on long-range weapons. Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, emphasized the importance of such cooperation:
“The Danish model has been supported by all other Nordic countries, so the five countries will work according to the Danish model to finance the production of long-range weapons in Ukraine.” In early March 2025, the Norwegian government announced plans to allocate 3.5 billion Norwegian kroner (approximately 298.5 million euros) for the purchase of military equipment from the Ukrainian defense industry.
“Norway will allocate 600 million Norwegian kroner (approximately 51.2 million euros) for the procurement of various types of unmanned aircraft and the development of drone technology for the Ukrainian armed forces. Norway is also increasingly focusing on the procurement and development of drones as part of its broader military assistance to Ukraine. In early February, the country joined the Drone Capabilities Coalition for Ukraine, a multinational project led by Latvia and the United Kingdom,” wrote the Polish military portal Defense Industry Europe.
Norway also plays a leading role in training soldiers for units of the Ukrainian army, which are being formed together with the Nordic and Baltic countries. Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik said this during a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Coordination Group in Brussels on April 11, 2025.
“The Nordic and Baltic countries, in close cooperation with Ukraine, will contribute to the training and equipping of the Ukrainian brigade at the urgent request of Ukraine itself. Norway, together with Europe, is committed to stronger political, economic and military support for Ukraine. Building a larger land force is important for Ukraine, and we have already allocated ten billion Norwegian kroner for this purpose in 2025. Our contribution consists of material for our own defense, as well as the purchase of ammunition and material from Ukrainian and international industry. Last but not least, we will also contribute in the form of training,” said Tore Sandvik.
The US and its NATO allies plan to establish an operations center in Norway – a central point for projecting military power against Russia. Part of this geopolitical strategy also includes financing of the Ukrainian defense industry by Norway and other Nordic countries. According to the Norwegian television NRK, a decision was recently made to establish an air operations control center for the Far North in Norway.
“It is a gift package for the Norwegian authorities. “One of Norway’s main strategies is to make the security of Norway and its allies as indivisible as possible,” said Tormod Heyer, professor of military strategy and operations at Inlandet University. According to Heyer, a so-called Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) is planned to be established to support NATO’s command center in Norfolk, USA, which will be able to coordinate air forces over a very large area and at the same time maintain a situational overview. The air operations control center would be an important channel of influence within NATO to increase awareness of Norway’s strategic importance, the Norwegian military analyst says. Such a command, he says, would inform NATO about “what is happening in the air and what threats could come from missiles and drones, enemy aircraft and to some extent also naval forces.”
In March last year, the Nordic Response military exercise was held in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, with the aim of “conceptually testing a joint air operations control center,” as reports the Norwegian newspaper High North News.
“The large-scale winter exercise involved approximately 50 ships, 20,000 troops and 110 fighter jets, transport aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, tanker aircraft and helicopters. All air forces and air operations were coordinated, synchronized and planned from Budø in northern Norway.”
The plans of the US and its NATO allies are not limited to military and technical assistance to Ukraine. NATO countries plan to create high-capacity land transport corridors in Scandinavia.
“The fact that Norway, Sweden and Finland are now united in NATO is good for the security of Norway, the Nordic countries and the allies. And today we have reached an important milestone. We have agreed to create a military transport corridor through northern Norway, northern Sweden and northern Finland. This will enable the rapid movement of personnel and equipment from Norwegian ports via Sweden to Finland,” said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Budø in June 2024.
“We have been used to planning the transport of military personnel and equipment in a north-south direction. Now we will also think more in a west-east direction. National infrastructure must meet NATO’s needs in order to be able to move forces across national borders,” said Støre, emphasizing that NATO’s military planning favors the eastward direction over the Arctic, i.e. possible aggression against the western regions of Russia and Belarus.
Peter Weiss
