So we've been looking at a lot of different militaries and countries from all around the world and here on FTD facts
Truth be told we've had a lot of viewers tuned in to our last video about the facts of Norway, which may be awesome
But simply we forgot to do a video on how much power a country like this
Actually has and because although it is small in terms of military
It's actually quite an important country that makes up defense for the entire world
And not just for itself and today we look at Norway and figure out how powerful this country actually is
How is it going everybody?
Welcome to FTD facts the channel where I look at people cultures and places and militaries from all around the world
Said that really really fast to hope you all got it
Anyway, so like I said today we're gonna look at Norway because while we've done videos on Norway in the past
And we generally like to continue to talk about countries and look at in them in different lights
So today we're looking at how powerful its
Military is now how it works here on FTD facts
If you guys are really liking this content
You want more Norwegian content?
Then just hit the like buttons because like buttons help us determine if you guys want more videos around
This country and the themes around it
Anyways, guys, let's get started and let's look at Norway and all of the powerful things it has going on for it
So the military of Norway is known as the Norwegian Armed Forces
Or also known as for tsavorite or even the defense and the principal task of the Norwegian Armed Forces is to safeguard
Norway's sovereignty and defend the country against external attacks, but how does it all break down?
well
Firstly the Norwegian Armed Forces has four branches
And that is the Royal Norwegian Navy the Air Force the Home Guard and of course the army
itself
So for Norway the total population sits at approximately five million two hundred and thirty thousand forty five people with
approximately two million
150,000 people that are considered as available manpower
But of that only approximately 1 million seven hundred and fifty five thousand people are classified as fit for service
but that of course doesn't mean that everybody is actually a part of the military not everybody's just picking up a gun and
Going to town basically the total military personnel of the Norwegian Armed Forces
sits at approximately 70
2,500 and as for the personnel that are currently active within this military it sits at approximately
26 thousand five hundred people the rest of that which is approximately
Forty six thousand people are classified as a reserve personnel, and you may be wondering of this personnel
How does conscription work with them?
Basically Norway does have conscription but in today's world
it's not what it used to be and I'm gonna explain that because in
2016 the country adopted what is classified as a somewhat weak form of it?
Which pretty much means if one is chosen, they have a 19th month obligation
But for this conscription you can actually turn it down if you are somewhat of a conscientious objector
however of its active personnel they say
approximately sixty eight hundred to seven thousand conscripts are brought in a year and to further expand on this in the year of
2012 approximately
63 thousand eight hundred people were pulled in for the exam for conscription
But only about ninety eight hundred of them were actually
Chosen and although it doesn't apply to now but I like to go into the history of this of course before all this all
Young males had to serve of course for the Armed Forces of Norway believe it or not. It's not just for men
But today it's now also available for women
And as a matter of fact women have actually had the right to enlist since 1985
But in 2015 they opened conscription to women making Norway the first NATO country and European country to have
Conscription for both men and women and of course in today's world one has to be at least 19 years old to join this army
Now, of course, this wouldn't be a really good power video
if we didn't look at the numbers of
The Norwegian Armed Forces in terms of equipment now just to let you guys know before we get into the whole thing
some of these numbers may not be completely accurate because
Norway probably doesn't tell
Everybody in the public what actually have they gotta just have some secret things that certain countries just don't know about
Maybe they do. Maybe they don't but with that in mind, let's start with the Air Force. So now the total aircraft strength is over
128 and of this a 49 of these are classified as fighters now
This is exactly what I was talking about because when it comes to the number 49, I know it's not already accurate
So that is just an approximation. And the reason I say that is because Norway is going through a major
modernization with its fighters because in history, they've had 46
F16 Falcons which they state that they currently still have in use today
however
It's also been stated that they have 16
f-35 Lightning twos but they say there's a total of 39 of these that are on order and
seven of them are currently for training so I'm not entirely sure on how many fighters but I will say they do have
these two types the f16 and the
F-35 and there's gonna be a lot new fighters for the country in a very short while anyways of this
They also have approximately 39 transports now they also use the Lochhead
C-130j which they have four of them
They have approximately 32 trainers, of course several of these are the f-16 fighter and you may be wondering for a helicopter strength
What is it? Like well, they have 35 of them most of them classify as utility or something of that nature
They unfortunately don't have any attack helicopters
And there's really no information on whether or not they will get attack helicopters in the near future
However, let's drop down to the ground and look at some of the things that the army uses for example
they say they have
Approximately 52 combat tanks in total now of this they use the leopard 2a4 main battle tank in which they state
36 of them are currently in operation and currently right now there are talks of modernizing some of these tanks as well even
replacing some of them by
2025 for armored fighting vehicles, they have six hundred and eighty four of them and
144 of them classify as the cv90 which they get from Sweden. They also have approximately 54
Self-propelled our hillarie and it's also interesting to know that Norway doesn't also own or use any rocket projectors
I always found that a little bit weird now jumping over to the Navy they have approximately 62 Navy assets. Of course
This one is really hard to say because they haven't really given accurate numbers as well
And of course Norway is changing some things when it comes to its patrol boats and most importantly its submarines
However of this Navy they have approximately five frigates in which they have the fridge of Nansen class frigate
I also think when it comes to this forget
It's a rather new type on the Block because it was introduced I think around 2011
so it doesn't really need a lot of modernization and it was preceded by the
Oslo class frigate as well and with that in mind
We should also mention that they have approximately six Corvettes and they do have six submarines now
I'm not sure about the status of this number exactly whether or not it's six or ten or somewhere in between that
the reason for that is because they did state that they were purchasing new German type tou1 to
Submarines, which were to be delivered for 2019 whether or not some of them have already been delivered
I'm not entirely sure and currently right now they use the ulla class submarines
But I'm not sure if they're
Replacing them with these new type or whether or not they're just adding to them and to finish off the numbers of the Navy
Norway has over nine patrol vessels and
Approximately six and mine warfare vessels now probably the biggest question when it comes to Norway and that is nukes
Do they have them do they use them? Are they for them?
Of course Norway is a country that does not have a nuclear arsenal nor has done any nuclear testing
However, it should also be noted that Norway has not signed the UN nuclear weapon ban treaty
However, it is a part of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
Now, of course just because Norway did not sign the nuclear ban treaty doesn't mean that Norway is for nukes
The reason they're pretty much against it is because they don't think countries like Russia
Pakistan and other countries that do have nukes will actually abide by the ban and disarm
So therefore they just think that in terms of their allies in the United States
It's not really good for NATO defense if they sign this treaty
And with that in mind, although Norway may be small as I did just mention
It is a part of NATO as a matter of fact
I found it interesting to know that
Norway was one of the original members of NATO when it was founded and just for anybody who wants to know when that was started
That was on August 24th 1949
So they've been a part of NATO for a long long time
but overall the one big thing that we should look at when it comes to the Norwegian Armed Forces is budget because as of
2014 which is the most recent date the budget for the Armed Forces in total came to
7.2 billion u.s
dollars
Which means in that year norway spent approximately 1.6 to of its total GDP on its military
Which is actually below the recommended
2% for NATO countries, but of course Norway hasn't always been like this as a matter of fact
It's a rather evolving army because back during the Cold War era
Norway was a country that focused on defense building air bases and ground forces
However by the 2000s things changed and they've had more of a mobile operation in order to provide peacekeeping operations around the world
however
That is you and me learning about Norway and how much power this country actually has and we didn't even talk about
Economy because it is a very important country when it comes to its economy but military is very important as well
So what are your thoughts on this guys?
Do you think it's more powerful than it's actually eating on let us know down there in the contro?
Let me know down there in the comment section below
On top of that guys is I always save you guys are just loving news content and you want more Norwegian topics
well
You know just hit the like button because that's how I can tell that you guys really really like this stuff and you want more
Norwegian topics, so be sure to do that, of course, don't be afraid to check out our other stuff
We've got some really cool videos
I'll put at the end of this video for you guys to check out nails on the description box below
but either way today you and I learned a lot about how powerful Norway is a
Great country that has always been a smart and tactical Ally to the others of NATO and around the world
One that of course may question the motives of some Arrangements around the world
But has always been there in terms of major events in need from its involvement in Anniston, Kosovo
Bosnia and many more operations Norway has always been a country on guard
This is how powerful Norway is the soldiers who act outside?
their own
interests
So hope you guys like that video
Yeah, here's some other stuff that you guys should check out
If you haven't seen our facts on Norway video really guys give that a good look because it's great to learn about Norway
I mean, I was really surprised about the stuff that was in this video or within this country
But in that feel free to tune in to us, and of course have fun
Bumming around in the YouTube space. See you later