Norway has short-listed the South Korean K-2 Black Panther (pictured) and the German Leopard 2 main battle tanks as candidates for the renewal of its fleet of early version Leopard 2 tanks currently in service.
The government will buy new tanks and there are two suppliers that are relevant for the delivery of a tank to Norway.
The Storting decided in the Land Power Study (Recommendation 50 S (2017-2018)) that a procurement project for tanks should be initiated, which should be submitted for approval to the Storting in 2021. This was done and the work is ongoing in accordance with the established plan.
It was initially worked out based on nine different concepts. After thorough assessments, they were finally left with two concepts – (1) new tanks or (2) upgrading the current Leopard 2 to a standard that corresponds to brand new tanks, in combination with the acquisition of some brand-new tanks to increase their number.
In the Land Forces inquiries, it was determined that the upgrade planned through project 5050 would not provide sufficient protection against new ammunition that the opponents have, nor would it provide us with sufficient communication so that the tanks could act as part of a whole in the brigade system. This will be taken care of in the new project that is being worked on now.