Mikal Hem, acting news editor of Forsvarets forum, accuses the Norwegian Armed Forces’ communications staff of preventing personnel from speaking independently to journalists. Conscripts interviewed for a bachelor’s thesis reported that superiors attended interviews, instructed them beforehand to represent their units positively and participated in checking their quotations. Other conscripts were allegedly reprimanded or warned […]

Norway’s armed forces face an acute housing shortage that could obstruct their planned expansion, according to the Norwegian Officers’ and Specialists’ Association. At Setermoen, only five to ten homes are available for 80–100 applicants; at Bardufoss, ten to fifteen homes must serve 60–80 applicants. Although the 2026 defence budget allocates NOK 2.4 billion to housing, […]

Young people with an immigrant background constituted between 15 and 20 percent of Norway’s relevant age cohorts over the past decade—but only 2.5 to 3.5 percent of those performing initial military service. Their representation among conscripts was therefore only around one-eighth to one-quarter of what proportional participation would suggest. The findings echo recent evidence from […]

The Norwegian Armed Forces has shortened the compulsory course for guard and security soldiers from five weeks to three (a 40 percent reduction). Around 1,800 conscripts enter these positions annually, making this one of the country’s largest categories of compulsory military service. At Bardufoss, approximately 120 conscripts are completing the compressed course, which covers weapons […]